NF-κB signaling, liver disease and hepatoprotective agents

The NF-kappa B signaling pathway has particular relevance to several liver diseases including hepatitis (liver infection by Helicobacter, viral hepatitis induced by HBV and HCV), liver fibrosis and cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, the NF-kappa B signaling pathway is a potential target for development of hepatoprotective agents. Several types of drugs including: selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), antioxidants, proteasome inhibitors, IKK inhibitors and nucleic acid-based decoys have been shown to interfere with NF-kappa B activity at different levels and may be useful for the treatment of liver diseases. However, NF-kappa B also plays an important hepatoprotective function that needs to be taken into consideration during development of new therapeutic regimens.