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World J Clin Cases. Mar 16, 2022; 10(8): 2369-2381
Published online Mar 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i8.2369
Developing natural marine products for treating liver diseases
Qian Wei, Jin-Sheng Guo
Qian Wei, Jin-Sheng Guo, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Author contributions: Qian W drafted the manuscript; Guo JS conceptualized and revised the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 91129705, No. 81070340, and No. 30570825.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jin-Sheng Guo, FAASLD, MD, Chief Doctor, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, No. 180 Feng Lin Road, Shanghai 200032, China. guo.jinsheng@zs-hospital.sh.cn
Received: August 4, 2021
Peer-review started: August 4, 2021
First decision: September 4, 2021
Revised: September 14, 2021
Accepted: January 29, 2022
Article in press: January 29, 2022
Published online: March 16, 2022
Processing time: 218 Days and 9.5 Hours
Abstract

In recent years, marine-derived bioactive compounds have gained increasing attention because of their higher biodiversity vs land-derived compounds. A number of marine-derived compounds are proven to improve lipid metabolism, modulate the gut microbiota, and possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and antitumor activities. With the increasing understanding of the molecular landscape underlying the pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases, interest has spiked in developing new therapeutic drugs and medicine food homology from marine sources for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases.

Keywords: Natural marine products; Liver disease; Treatment; Liver

Core Tip: The prevalence of liver diseases has been rising worldwide, especially non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that is associated with increasingly urbanized lifestyles and dietary changes. Effective and cost-efficient drugs and medicine food homology are needed in concert with improving liver health. Marine sources are rich and play an important role in the generation of unique drugs. A number of marine-derived compounds are proven to improve lipid metabolism, modulate the gut microbiota, prevent reactive oxygen species formation, and possess anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities, which means that they can be an invaluable source for the discovery of new compounds for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases.