Mechanism of Active Components of Chinese Medicine in Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis （IPF） is a progressive interstitial lung disease with unknown etiology and poor prognosis. At present， there are few antifibrotic drugs， which have limited efficacy and cause diverse side effects in the treatment of IPF， failing to meet the clinical needs. Therefore， it is urgent to develop more safe and effective drugs to treat IPF. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has garnered increasing attention in recent years in the treatment of IPF due to its unique advantages. Increasing studies have shown that Chinese medicines have remarkable therapeutic effects on IPF and broad application prospects. However， the unclear material basis and mechanism in treating IPF hinders the modernization， internationalization， and clinical application of Chinese medicines. Therefore， it is essential to decipher the mechanism of the active components in Chinese medicines in treating IPF， which has gradually become a hot spot in the research on IPF. Increasing research results have demonstrated that anti-inflammation， anti-oxidation， inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition are involved in the treatment of IPF with these active components， whereas the systematic research and summary remain to be carried out. By reviewing the articles about the treatment of IPF with the active components in Chinese medicines in recent years， this paper summarizes the mechanism and experimental studies and puts forward the existing problems in the research on the mechanism， aiming to provide references for the further basic research on IPF and the development of targerted drugs.