Research advances on the role of epigenetic modifications in the long-term progression of alcoholic liver disease
10.16438/j.0513-4870.2023-0182
- VernacularTitle:表观遗传修饰在酒精性肝病长期进展中的作用研究进展
- Author:
Han GAO
1
;
Da-ke XIAO
2
;
Jia-bo WANG
1
;
Zhi-tao MA
2
Author Information
1. School of Pharmacy, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China; College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
2. College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
- Publication Type:Research Article
- Keywords:
traditional Chinese medicine;
alcoholic liver disease;
epigenetic modification;
metabolic reprogramming;
new drug research and development
- From:
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica
2023;58(8):2111-2119
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
There are more than 60 million alcoholic liver disease (ALD) patients in China, which has become a public health problem that cannot be ignored. Moreover, the social problem of "alcohol culture" is still hardly to solve, so that safe and effective prevention and treatment for ALD are in urgent need clinically. Previous studies on ALD have focused on the direct damaging effects of alcohol and its toxic metabolites, while recent studies have shown that the pathogenesis of ALD also include alcohol metabolic reprogramming and endogenous metabolites disorder. Although the endogenous metabolites have no direct toxicity, its long-term effect should not be ignored. These endogenous metabolites could change epigenetic modifications, cause widespread and persistent abnormal gene expression and signal pathway activation abnormally to promote metabolic reprogramming and stamp it as "metabolic memory", which manifest pathological changes and promote ALD, especially liver fibrosis/cirrhosis and liver cancer. Based on this, the article reviews the important epigenetic modifications caused by related metabolites in ALD and their associated effects. The role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its active ingredients in regulating epigenetics was also analyzed. The results suggest that regulation of epigenetics and alteration of "metabolic memory" may be a novel mechanism of TCM in the prevention and treatment of ALD.
