REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cytokines and Soluble Mediators in Immunity
The Pivotal Role of Cytokines in Liver Disease Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Potential
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei, China
- 2Chinese Academy of Sciences Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Hefei, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Liver disease is a major threat to human health and life safety, primarily encompassing hepatitis caused by various factors (viral, alcoholic, fatty and autoimmune hepatitis), cirrhosis and liver cancer. Cytokines are molecules found on cell membranes that mediate the inflammation, immunity and a range of cellular functions, such as cell differentiation, proliferation, metastasis and apoptosis. In general, the delicate balance between pro-and anti-inflammatory effects is maintained by the body's regulatory mechanisms. Once this balance is disturbed, complex chain reactions can occur, including systemic injury, tumor, multi-organ failure or death, resulting in the release of cytokines. This review mainly focuses on the classification, biological characteristics, pathogenesis, signaling pathways of various cytokines (interleukins, interferons, tumor necrosis factor, colony-stimulating factors, chemokines and growth factors) and their important roles in the occurrence and development of different liver diseases, mediating the immune responses, and further discusses the application prospects of cytokines in the clinical treatments of liver diseases.
Keywords: cytokine, Liver Cirrhosis, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Inflammation, Immunotherapy
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fan Zhang, fzhang@cmpt.ac.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.