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Review
. 2023 May 13;15(1):85.
doi: 10.1186/s13148-023-01481-1.

Epigenetic effects of herbal medicine

Yu-Yao Wu #  1 , Yan-Ming Xu #  1 , Andy T Y Lau  2
Affiliations
Review

Epigenetic effects of herbal medicine

Yu-Yao Wu et al. Clin Epigenetics. .

Abstract

Epigenetic memory is essential for life that governs the predefined functional features of cells. Recent evidence has indicated that the epigenetic modification provides a potential link to gene expression changes that may be involved in the development of various chronic diseases, and targeting the epigenome becomes a plausible method for treating diseases. Traditional herbal medicine has gradually entered the vision of researchers due to its low toxicity and its effectiveness in treating diseases. As a matter of fact, researchers found that the possessed epigenetic modification capacity of herbal medicine had the ability to combat the progression of the disease, such as various types of cancer, diabetes, inflammation, amnesia, liver fibrosis, asthma, and hypertension-induced renal injury. Studies on the epigenetic effects of herbal medicine will provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of human diseases, which may lead to new therapeutic approaches and diagnoses. Thus, this review summarized the impact of herbal medicine and its bioactive components on disease epigenome as examples of how utilization of epigenetic plasticity could be useful as the basis for the future development of targeted therapies in chronic diseases.

Keywords: Cancer; Chronic diseases; Epigenetics; Herbal medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Epigenetic molecular targets of herbal medicine in cells. Herbal medicine can regulate histone methylation, histone acetylation and DNA methylation by affecting cellular factors directly, which are respectively located in the yellow, pink and orange patterns of the picture. Besides, herbal medicine can also affect histone ubiquitination and phosphorylation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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