Abstract:
Liver fibrosis is the most common pathological feature of various chronic liver diseases, which can progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and it is crucial to intervene in time to block the disease process. Ferroptosis, as a newly discovered form of cell death in recent years, can induce the development of liver fibrosis through iron overload and lipid peroxidation, and it can also mitigate the damage of hepatic fibrotic response by inducing ferroptosis in hepatic stellate cells to limit the expansion of fibrotic scar-producing cells. Therefore, precise regulation of ferroptosis is a key component in the treatment of liver fibrosis. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has unique advantages in the treatment of liver fibrosis. Studies have shown that TCM active ingredients such as flavonoids, lactones, alkaloids, triterpenoids, anthraquinones, and organometallic compounds can be used to pass through the signaling pathways such as BRD7-P53-SLC7A11, SOCS1/P53/SLC7A11, Keap-1/Nrf2, and ROCK1/ATF3; and to regulate the activities of the targets such as GPX4, SLC7A11, IRP2, NCOA4, HO-1, and so on; and to affect the cellular iron metabolism and lipid peroxidation process by pathways such as promoting ferritin autophagy, thereby preventing and treating liver fibrosis. This paper provides a review on the role of ferroptosis in liver fibrosis and the research progress of TCM in regulating ferroptosis to intervene in liver fibrosis, so as to provide a new research direction for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis by TCM.