Department of Pathology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China.
Health Science Center, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat. 2024 Oct;174:106875. doi: 10.1016/j.prostaglandins.2024.106875. Epub 2024 Jul 16.
The liver plays a central role in systemic metabolism and drug degradation. However, it is highly susceptible to damage due to various factors, including metabolic imbalances, excessive alcohol consumption, viral infections, and drug influences. These factors often result in conditions such as fatty liver, hepatitis, and acute or chronic liver injury. Failure to address these injuries could promptly lead to the development of liver cirrhosis and potentially hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Prostaglandin E (PGE) is a metabolite of arachidonic acid that belongs to the class of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and is synthesized via the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway. By binding to its G protein coupled receptors (i.e., EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4), PGE has a wide range of physiological and pathophysiology effects, including pain, inflammation, fever, cardiovascular homeostasis, etc. Recently, emerging studies showed that PGE plays an indispensable role in liver health and disease. This review focus on the research progress of the role of PGE synthase and its receptors in liver physiological and pathophysiological processes and discuss the possibility of developing liver protective drugs targeting the COXs/PGESs/PGE/EPs axis.
肝脏在全身代谢和药物降解中起着核心作用。然而，由于多种因素，包括代谢失衡、过量饮酒、病毒感染和药物影响，肝脏很容易受到损伤。这些因素通常导致脂肪肝、肝炎和急性或慢性肝损伤等疾病。如果不解决这些损伤，肝脏可能会迅速发展为肝硬化，并有可能发展为肝细胞癌（HCC）。前列腺素 E（PGE）是花生四烯酸的代谢产物，属于多不饱和脂肪酸（PUFA）类，通过环氧化酶（COX）途径合成。PGE 通过与其 G 蛋白偶联受体（即 EP1、EP2、EP3 和 EP4）结合，具有广泛的生理和病理生理学作用，包括疼痛、炎症、发热、心血管稳态等。最近的研究表明，PGE 在肝脏健康和疾病中起着不可或缺的作用。本综述重点介绍了 PGE 合酶及其受体在肝脏生理和病理生理过程中的作用的研究进展，并讨论了针对 COXs/PGESs/PGE/EPs 轴开发肝保护药物的可能性。
