Protective effects of glycycoumarin on liver diseases
- Phytother Res. 2020 Jun;34(6):1191-1197. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6598.
- 1. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
- 2. College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Licorice, an edible and medicinal plant, has long been used to treat various diseases, including liver diseases. Glycycoumarin (GCM) is a representative coumarin compound in licorice with favorable bioavailability feature. Recent studies by us demonstrated that GCM is highly effective against alcoholic liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity, and liver Cancer through mechanisms involved in activation of Nrf2 antioxidant system, stimulation of AMPK-mediated energy homeostasis, induction of Autophagy degradation process, and inhibiting oncogenic kinase T-lymphokine-activated killer cell-originated protein kinase activity. In this review, we summarize the findings on the hepatoprotective effect of GCM, discuss the signaling pathways underlying GCM-induced protective effect on liver diseases, and propose the issues that need to be addressed to promote further development of GCM as a clinically useful hepatoprotective agent.