Perspectives of pharmacological intervention promoting liver regeneration

Effective drug therapy promoting liver regeneration is a challenging goal in pharmacotherapy of liver diseases. Several plant phytochemicals recommended in traditional medicine from over hundred plants have been investigated for its use in various liver disorders. Regeneration of injured liver depend on a proliferative potential of mature hepatocytes as well as different subsets of intrahepatic and extrahepatic stem/progenitor cells. In clinical trials a stem cell therapy resulted in a limited improvement of liver functions. Animal studies have demonstrated the involvement of bone marrow-derived stem/progenitor cells in liver regeneration. For this reason, the pharmacological activation of endogenous stem cells and pharmacological control of macrophage phenotypic polarization could be an effective method of mobilizing progenitor cells to injured liver.