Liu Y, Wang Y, Yang XJ. Revitalizing liver health: Human placental extract shows promise in chronic liver disease management. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(30): 109701 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i30.109701]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiao-Jun Yang, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of General Surgery, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 199 Donggang West Road, Chengguan District, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China. yangxjmd@aliyun.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Oct 26, 2025; 13(30): 109701 Published online Oct 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i30.109701
Revitalizing liver health: Human placental extract shows promise in chronic liver disease management
Yang Liu, Yan Wang, Xiao-Jun Yang
Yang Liu, The First Clinical Medical School, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Yan Wang, Division of Personnel, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Xiao-Jun Yang, Department of General Surgery, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Co-first authors: Yang Liu and Yan Wang.
Author contributions: Liu Y conceived and outlined the manuscript; Wang Y participated in the discussion and design of the manuscript; Yang XJ contributed to the writing, and editing the manuscript.
Supported by PhD Supervisor Training Program, No. 22GSSYA-3; Gansu Provincial Health Industry Research Project, No. GSWSKY2020-45; and Gansu Natural Science Foundation, No. 20JR10RA378.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors of this article declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.
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: Xiao-Jun Yang, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of General Surgery, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 199 Donggang West Road, Chengguan District, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China. yangxjmd@aliyun.com
Received: May 19, 2025 Revised: June 18, 2025 Accepted: August 15, 2025 Published online: October 26, 2025 Processing time: 145 Days and 21.2 Hours
Abstract
This editorial provided commentaries on an article titled "Liver function improvement after human placental extract injections in patients with chronic liver disease: Thirty case reports". The first clinical application of an innovative therapeutic protocol was comprehensively described in this case report by Lee, in which 30 patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) received intravenous administration of 10 mL human placental extract (HPE). Notably, significant improvements in liver function could be observed in these patients, which underscored the potential of this novel treatment for CLD management. However, the rising prevalence of CLD around the world underscored the limitations of conventional therapies (such as antiviral agents and lifestyle modifications) in addressing advanced fibrosis or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Additionally, emerging regenerative therapies (including HPE) have garnered more attention due to their bioactive components, which could modulate the hepatic microenvironment based on antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pro-regenerative mechanisms. Although the existing evidence remains relatively lacking, the multi-targeted action of HPE highlights its potential as a novel therapeutic strategy. Overall, this editorial outlines the research advancements of HPE, alongside the critical analysis of existing limitations and the proposal of future research directions.
Core Tip: An innovative intervention involving intravenous injection of human placental extract was introduced in a recent case report from Danann Medical Clinic, which aimed to improve the liver functions of chronic liver disease patients. However, the study was restricted by the issues, including a small sample size, absence of a control group, and insufficient long-term safety data, and the mechanistic underpinnings and generalizability of therapeutic efficacy required further validation.
