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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2026; 18(2): 115563
Published online Feb 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i2.115563
Published online Feb 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i2.115563
Levodopa: A novel therapeutic prospect for liver disease
Jun Xu, Ying Qian, Department of Acupuncture, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200071, China
Jun-Min Wang, Xing-Li Wu, Yi-Yuan Zheng, Laboratory Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200071, China
Co-first authors: Jun Xu and Ying Qian.
Author contributions: Zheng YY conceived this work, Xu J, Qian Y, Wang JM, Wu XL performed the investigation and wrote the manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Supported by Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, No. 20234Y0142.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yi-Yuan Zheng, Laboratory Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 274 Zhijiang Middle Road, Shanghai 200071, China. iceroser@126.com
Received: October 20, 2025
Revised: November 5, 2025
Accepted: December 24, 2025
Published online: February 27, 2026
Processing time: 115 Days and 19.5 Hours
Revised: November 5, 2025
Accepted: December 24, 2025
Published online: February 27, 2026
Processing time: 115 Days and 19.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This article discusses the potential of levodopa as a novel therapeutic prospect for liver diseases, particularly liver fibrosis and metabolic liver disease. Levodopa, which is traditionally used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, may influence liver fibrosis through the modulation of dopamine receptor D1 signaling and the activation of Hippo/Yes-associated protein 1 pathway. In addition, its potential impact on eating behavior and metabolic regulation may propose it a broader application for patients with stress-exacerbated liver disease.