Ethnopharmacological relevance

Licorice is a medicinal herb with a 2000-year history of applications in traditional Chinese medicine. Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) is a bioactive chalcone compound isolated from licorice. It has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to its excellent anti-inflammatory activity.

Aim of the study

This study is to provide a comprehensive summary of the anti-inflammatory activity of ISL and the underlying molecular mechanisms, and discuss new insights for its potential clinical applications as an anti-inflammation agent.

Materials and methods

We examined literatures published in the past twenty years from PubMed, Research Gate, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and SciFinder, with single or combined key words of “isoliquiritigenin”, “inflammation”, and “anti-inflammatory”.

Results

ISL elicits its anti-inflammatory activity by mediating various cellular processes. It inhibits the upstream of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway and activates the nuclear factor erythroid related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway. In addition, it suppresses the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) pathway and restrains the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.

Conclusions

Current studies indicate a great therapeutical potential of ISL as a drug candidate for treatment of inflammation-associated diseases. However, the pharmacokinetics, biosafety, and bioavailability of ISL remain to be further investigated.

中文翻译：

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异甘草素，一种治疗炎症相关疾病的潜在治疗剂

民族药理学相关性

甘草是一种具有2000多年中药应用历史的药材。Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) 是一种从甘草中分离出来的生物活性查耳酮化合物。近年来因其优异的抗炎活性而受到越来越多的关注。

研究目的

本研究旨在全面总结ISL的抗炎活性及其潜在分子机制，并讨论其作为抗炎剂的潜在临床应用的新见解。

材料和方法

我们查阅了 PubMed、Research Gate、Web of Science、Google Scholar 和 SciFinder 过去二十年发表的文献，关键词为“异甘草素”、“炎症”和“抗炎”。

结果

ISL 通过介导各种细胞过程来引发其抗炎活性。它抑制核因子 kappa B (NF- κ B) 通路的上游并激活核因子红细胞相关因子 2 (Nrf2) 通路。此外，它还抑制 NOD 样受体蛋白 3 (NLRP3) 通路并抑制丝裂原激活蛋白激酶 (MAPK) 通路。

结论

目前的研究表明 ISL 作为治疗炎症相关疾病的候选药物具有巨大的治疗潜力。然而，ISL 的药代动力学、生物安全性和生物利用度仍有待进一步研究。