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Review
. 2017 Jun 18;9(17):757-770.
doi: 10.4254/wjh.v9.i17.757.

Liver immunology and herbal treatment

Yasemin H Balaban  1 , Ceylan Aka  1 , Ufuk Koca-Caliskan  1
Affiliations
Review

Liver immunology and herbal treatment

Yasemin H Balaban et al. World J Hepatol. .

Abstract

Beyond the metabolic functions, the liver recently has been defined as an organ of immune system (IS), which have central regulatory role for innate and adaptive immunity. The liver keeps a delicate balance between hepatic screening of pathogenic antigens and immune tolerance to self-antigens. Herbal treatments with immunological effects have potential to alter this hepatic immune balance towards either therapeutic side or diseases side by inducing liver injury via hepatotoxicity or initiation of autoimmune diseases. Most commonly known herbal treatments, which have therapeutic effect on liver and IS, have proven via in vitro, in vivo, and/or clinical studies were summarized in this review.

Keywords: Adaptive immunity; Drug induced liver injury; Hepatic immunology; Herbal treatments; Innate immunity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: This statement is to certify that all the authors have approved the manuscript being submitted. We the authors warrant that the article is our original work, which has not received prior publication in whole or in part elsewhere and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. On behalf of all co-authors, the corresponding author shall bear full responsibility for the submission.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunological action mechanismes of some herbals on the liver. IFN: Interferons; TNF: Tumor necrosis factor; IL: Interleukin; TGF: Transforming growth factor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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