REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1609569
Therapeutic potential of traditional Chinese medicine in pancreatic fibrosis: Mechanisms of TCM formulas and active ingredients
Provisionally accepted
- Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
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Pancreatic fibrosis (PF), the primary pathological hallmark of chronic pancreatitis (CP), is recognized as a pivotal driver of CP progression. Currently, no therapies are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically for PF treatment, highlighting an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. Emerging evidence positions Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a promising multi-target approach against PF. This paper summarizes the pathogenesis of PF and provides a detailed review and comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms underlying compound TCM prescriptions and active TCM ingredients investigated for PF prevention and treatment in existing experimental studies. Numerous studies indicate that TCM combats PF by inhibiting pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) activation, regulating extracellular matrix (ECM) breakdown, suppressing macrophage infiltration and polarization, and inhibiting pancreatic acinar cell apoptosis. Current basic research predominantly focuses on PSC activation and associated signaling pathways, particularly key pathways such as TGF-β/Smad, MAPK, NF-κB, and Hedgehog. This work thus offers novel insights and approaches for PF treatment and further research.
Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chronic pancreatitis, Pancreatic fibrosis, signalingpathways, review
Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 11 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gan, Hu, Liu, Shi, Yang, Huang, Wang and Li. 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: Fu Li, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
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