Protective effects of glycycoumarin on liver diseases

Licorice, an edible and medicinal plant, has long been used to treat various diseases, including liver diseases. Glycycoumarin (GCM) is a representative coumarin compound in licorice with favorable bioavailability feature. Recent studies by us demonstrated that GCM is highly effective against alcoholic liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, acetaminophen‐induced hepatotoxicity, and liver cancer through mechanisms involved in activation of Nrf2 antioxidant system, stimulation of AMPK‐mediated energy homeostasis, induction of autophagy degradation process, and inhibiting oncogenic kinase T‐lymphokine–activated killer cell‐originated protein kinase activity. In this review, we summarize the findings on the hepatoprotective effect of GCM, discuss the signaling pathways underlying GCM‐induced protective effect on liver diseases, and propose the issues that need to be addressed to promote further development of GCM as a clinically useful hepatoprotective agent.