Chinese medicine in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease based on network pharmacology: a review

Shihao Zheng; Chengyuan Xue; Size Li; Xiaobin Zao; Xiaoke Li; Qiyao Liu; Xu Cao; Wei Wang; Wenying Qi; Peng Zhang; Yongan Ye

doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1381712

Chinese medicine in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease based on network pharmacology: a review

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Apr 17:15:1381712. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1381712. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Shihao Zheng^{1

2}, Chengyuan Xue^{1

2}, Size Li^{1

2}, Xiaobin Zao^{1

3}, Xiaoke Li^{1

4}, Qiyao Liu^{1

2}, Xu Cao^{1

4}, Wei Wang^{1

2}, Wenying Qi^{1

2}, Peng Zhang⁵, Yongan Ye^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
² Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Chinese Internal Medicine of Ministry of Education and Beijing, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
⁴ Liver Diseases Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
⁵ Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinicopathological syndrome characterized by abnormalities in hepatic fat deposition, the incidence of which has been increasing year by year in recent years. It has become the largest chronic liver disease globally and one of the important causes of cirrhosis and even primary liver cancer formation. The pathogenesis of NAFLD has not yet been fully clarified. Modern medicine lacks targeted clinical treatment protocols for NAFLD, and most drugs lack efficacy and have high side effects. In contrast, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has significant advantages in the treatment and prevention of NAFLD, which have been widely recognized by scholars around the world. In recent years, through the establishment of a "medicine-disease-target-pathway" network relationship, network pharmacology can explore the molecular basis of the role of medicines in disease prevention and treatment from various perspectives, predicting the pharmacological mechanism of the corresponding medicines. This approach is compatible with the holistic view and treatment based on pattern differentiation of TCM and has been widely used in TCM research. In this paper, by searching relevant databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase, we reviewed and analyzed the relevant signaling pathways and specific mechanisms of action of single Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine combinations, and Chinese patent medicine for the treatment of NAFLD in recent years. These related studies fully demonstrated the therapeutic characteristics of TCM with multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways, which provided strong support for the exact efficacy of TCM exerted in the clinic. In conclusion, we believe that network pharmacology is more in line with the TCM mindset of treating diseases, but with some limitations. In the future, we should eliminate the potential risks of false positives and false negatives, clarify the interconnectivity between components, targets, and diseases, and conduct deeper clinical or experimental studies.

Keywords: network pharmacology; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; research progress; review; traditional Chinese medicine.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.82104810), China National Science and Technology major projects 13th 5-year plan (No.2018ZX10725505) and Changjiang Scholars Special Posting Programme (Grant No: ZYS-2021CJ01). The material in all the pictures of this article was provided friendly by Figdraw.