Review

Chinese medicines as a resource for liver fibrosis treatment

Yibin Feng¹ , Kwok-Fan Cheung² , Ning Wang¹ , Ping Liu³ , Tadashi Nagamatsu⁴ and Yao Tong¹

¹  School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 10 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, PR China

²  Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, PR China

³  Department of Cell Biology, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, PR China

⁴  Department of Pharmacobiology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University, 150 Yagotoyama, Tenpakuku, Nagoya 468-8503, Japan

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Chinese Medicine 2009, 4:16doi:10.1186/1749-8546-4-16

Published:	20 August 2009

Abstract

Liver fibrosis is a condition of abnormal proliferation of connective tissue due to various types of chronic liver injury often caused by viral infection and chemicals. Effective therapies against liver fibrosis are still limited. In this review, we focus on research on Chinese medicines against liver fibrosis in three categories, namely pure compounds, composite formulae and combination treatment using single compounds with composite formulae or conventional medicines. Action mechanisms of the anti-fibrosis Chinese medicines, clinical application, herbal adverse events and quality control are also reviewed. Evidence indicates that some Chinese medicines are clinically effective on liver fibrosis. Strict quality control such as research to identify and monitor the manufacturing of Chinese medicines enables reliable pharmacological, clinical and in-depth mechanism studies. Further experiments and clinical trials should be carried out on the platforms that conform to international standards.