Anti-inflammatory activity of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.
Accumulating epidemiological and clinical evidence shows that inflammation is an important risk factor for various human diseases. Thus, suppressing chronic inflammation has the potential to delay, prevent, and control various chronic diseases, including cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, joint, skin, pulmonary, blood, lymph, liver, pancreatic, and intestinal diseases. Various natural products from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been shown to safely suppress proinflammatory pathways and control inflammation-associated disease. In vivo and/or in vitro studies have demonstrated that anti-inflammatory effects of TCM occur by inhibition of the expression of master transcription factors (for example, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)), pro-inflammatory cytokines (for example, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), chemokines (for example, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand (CCL)-24), intercellular adhesion molecule expression and pro-inflammatory mediators (for example, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2)). However, a handful of review articles have focused on the anti-inflammatory activities of TCM and explore their possible mechanisms of action. In this review, we summarize recent research attempting to identify the anti-inflammatory constituents of TCM and their molecular targets that may create new opportunities for innovation in modern pharmacology.
Department of Seafood Science, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
Min-Hsiung
MH
Pan
Department of Seafood Science, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
Yi-Shiou
YS
Chiou
Department of Seafood Science, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan.
Mei-Ling
ML
Tsai
Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8520, USA.
Chi-Tang
CT
Ho
Anti-inflammatory activity; Pro-inflammatory cytokines; Traditional Chinese medicinal herbs