PubMed · 2026-03-23
A comprehensive review finds that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) fights liver scarring not by blocking a single pathway, but by simultaneously calming inflammation, reducing oxidative stress, regulating cell death, and rebalancing immune activity—disrupting the self-reinforcing cycle that drives chronic liver fibrosis.
TCM interventions simultaneously modulate at least five interconnected disease pathways (inflammation, oxidative stress, programmed cell death, metabolic reprogramming, and immune microenvironment remodeling) rather than targeting a single node.
Key signaling pathways suppressed by TCM include NF-κB, NLRP3 inflammasome, TGF-β/Smad, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, and Wnt/β-catenin—all central drivers of fibrosis progression.
A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, and CNKI covering 2000–2025 was conducted, with all medicinal plant names verified against the Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) database for taxonomic accuracy.