REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1582258
This article is part of the Research TopicApplications of Medicinal Plants and Their Metabolites in Fibrotic Disease: Novel Strategies, Mechanisms, and Their Impact on Clinical PracticeView all 7 articles
Research and application of medicines for treating liver fibrosis: current status and prospects
Provisionally accepted
- Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Liver fibrosis is a common pathological consequence of multiple chronic liver diseases, making its pharmacological management a key area of medical research. Diverse classes of therapeutic agents offer distinct advantages and limitations. Notably, combination therapy has emerged as a prominent focus of contemporary investigation due to its potential to enhance treatment outcomes. Materials and Methods: As of February 1, 2025, a comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed and Web of Science, employing keywords related to liver fibrosis and its treatment. In accordance with ConPhyMP guidelines, one author assessed the quality of studies involving botanical drug metabolites. Results: This review synthesizes findings from 111 research articles, offering an overview of two primary classes of therapeutic agents and their integration with emerging technologies-namely mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes and nanoparticles. On one side, it discusses biomedicine-related therapies, including conventional biomedicine medicines, repurposed drugs, and investigational compounds. On the other, it addresses botanical-based treatments, encompassing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas and botanical drug metabolites. Both categories have shown promising therapeutic efficacy in clinical and preclinical settings. Conclusion: This review provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of pharmacological strategies for the treatment of liver fibrosis, shows the application and research status of different types of medicines, and provides a comprehensive perspective for current research directions. It points out the limitations of existing research and suggests that the clinical research of various medicines and combination therapies should be strengthened in the future, and the liver fibrosis model should be optimized to promote clinical transformation, which provides an important reference for future research directions.
Keywords: liver fibrosis, medicine therapy, Biomedicine medicines, repurposed drugs, potential molecules, Botanical drug metabolites, Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas, combined treatment
Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 chen, wu, zhang, lin, xie, zhu and yin. 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:
ye zhu, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
dehui yin, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
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.