The liver, the largest metabolic organ in the human body, is also a complex immune organ composed of a variety of immune cells. An inflammatory response can occur in the human liver for a variety of reasons, such as drugs, alcohol, or virus infection - this is a stress response of the body to external stimuli, and is usually beneficial for the body. However, chronic inflammation can cause tissue damage and lead to various liver diseases, such as fatty liver disease (hepatic steatosis), hepatitis, liver fibrosis, and even cirrhosis and liver cancer. Kupffer cells, which are resident macrophages in the liver, play a key role in liver inflammation. Neutrophils and lymphocytes in the liver and recruited myelo-derived free macrophages are also important factors accounting for acute and chronic hepatitis. Inflammatory cells in the liver recognise stimuli through pattern recognition receptors and activate inflammation signal pathways. For example, TLR4 activates the NF-κB signalling pathway, and subsequently produces inflammatory factors such as TNF-α，IL-1β，IL-6，TGF-β and PDGF, which are also important factors in inducing liver fibrosis.

At present, there are no specific drugs for the treatment of liver disease clinically. There are various strategies for treatment, however, single medicine usually incurs many side effects, for example, low-potassium and hypertension. Therefore, there is an urgent need to seek safe and effective drugs. Traditional medicine has unique advantages in the treatment of liver diseases for its significant effects in repairing liver and reliving inflammation, which usually consist of multiple components. However, the pharmacodynamic substance basis and multi-target mechanisms of the therapeutic effects are not well understood, which is an urgent problem to be solved. In addition, with the development of new dosage forms, new preparations such as nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, and microemulsions have emerged, which can significantly improve solubility, enhance the targeting effect, and improve the efficacy of drugs. Therefore, combining new dosage forms with traditional medicine is an interesting research direction.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the latest research which can help us better understand the relationship between inflammation and liver diseases. Thus, the pharmacodynamic basis and mechanism of action of traditional medicine for treating liver disease can be well clarified and potential drugs can be found for liver disease treatment. We sincerely invite researchers to contribute original research and review articles, including but not limited to in vivo, in vitro, clinical and non-clinical studies on the prevention and treatment of liver disease by traditional medicine.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Mechanism relationship between inflammation and liver disease
• The treatment of liver disease by traditional medicine
• The liver protection mechanism of traditional medicine through intestinal microflora, oxidative stress and lipid metabolism, etc.
• Mechanism of traditional medicine based on metabolomics, proteomics, and genomic in liver protection
• Basic study on the pharmacodynamic substances of traditional medicine to protect liver
• The liver protection of monomer components isolated from traditional drugs
• The development of new dosage form of traditional medicine in liver protection