ArticlePloS one2012
Asiatic acid inhibits liver fibrosis by blocking TGF-beta/Smad signaling in vivo and in vitro.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural Products Targeting Angiogenesis and Tumor Microenvironment in Gastrointestinal Malignancies.Cells · 2026Review
- Viral Pathogens and Pulmonary Fibrosis: EMT-Driven Mechanisms and Insights From Traditional Chinese Medicine.Reviews in medical virology · 2026Review
- Immune System and Hepatic Stellate Cells' Crosstalk in Liver Fibrosis: Pathways and Therapeutic Potential.Journal of immunology research · 2026Review
- Evaluating the antifibrotic potential of naringenin, asiatic acid, and icariin using murine and human precision-cut liver slices.Physiological reports · 2024Article
- Computational analysis of phytocompounds inHeliyon · 2024Article
- Recent Advances in Research on Active Compounds Against Hepatic Fibrosis.Current medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Liver-targeted delivery of asiatic acid nanostructured lipid carrier for the treatment of liver fibrosis.Drug delivery · 2021Article
- AANG: A natural compound formula for overcoming multidrug resistance via synergistic rebalancing the TGF-β/Smad signalling in hepatocellular carcinoma.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2021Article
- Potential Application of an Aqueous Extract ofMaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Potential therapeutic targets and biological mechanisms of Centella asiatica on hepatic fibrosis: a study of network pharmacology.Annals of translational medicine · 2021Article
- Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris var. davurica) ameliorates liver fibrosis in db/db mice with methionine- and choline-deficient diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2021Article
- Taxifolin, Extracted from WasteDrug design, development and therapy · 2021Article
- Crosstalk network among multiple inflammatory mediators in liver fibrosis.World journal of gastroenterology · 2019Review
- Asiatic Acid Protects Dopaminergic Neurons from Neuroinflammation by Suppressing Mitochondrial Ros Production.Biomolecules & therapeutics · 2019Article
- Article
- Asiatic acid enhances intratumor delivery and the antitumor effect of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin by reducing tumor-stroma collagen.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2019Article
- A Compound of Chinese Herbs Protects against Alcoholic Liver Fibrosis in Rats via the TGF-Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- Combination of Asiatic Acid and Naringenin Modulates NK Cell Anti-cancer Immunity by Rebalancing Smad3/Smad7 Signaling.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2018Article
- Asiatic acid prevents the development of interstitial lung disease in a hypochlorous acid-induced mouse model of scleroderma.Oncology letters · 2018Article
- Asiatic acid ameliorates CClDrug design, development and therapy · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Liver fibrosis is a major cause of liver failure, but treatment remains ineffective. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms and anti-hepatofibrotic activities of asiatic acid (AA) in a rat model of liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) and in vitro in TGF-beta1-stimulated rat hepatic stellate cell line (HSC-T6). Treatment with AA significantly attenuated CCl(4)-induced liver fibrosis and functional impairment in a dosage-dependent manner, including blockade of the activation of HSC as determined by inhibiting de novo alpha smooth muscle actin (a-SMA) and collagen matrix expression, and an increase in ALT and AST (all p<0.01). The hepatoprotective effects of AA on fibrosis were associated with upregulation of hepatic Smad7, an inhibitor of TGF-beta signaling, thereby blocking upregulation of TGF-beta1 and CTGF and the activation of TGF-beta/Smad signaling. The anti-fibrosis activity and mechanisms of AA were further detected in vitro in HSC-T6. Addition of AA significantly induced Smad7 expression by HSC-T6 cells, thereby inhibiting TGF-beta1-induced Smad2/3 activation, myofibroblast transformation, and collagen matrix expression in a dosage-dependent manner. In contrast, knockdown of Smad7 in HSC-T6 cells prevented AA-induced inhibition of HSC-T6 cell activation and fibrosis in response to TGF-beta1, revealing an essential role for Smad7 in AA-induced anti-fibrotic activities during liver fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. In conclusion, AA may be a novel therapeutic agent for liver fibrosis. Induction of Smad7-dependent inhibition of TGF-beta/Smad-mediated fibrogenesis may be a central mechanism by which AA protects liver from injury.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.