ABSTRACT
The discovery of regulatory cell death has led to new breakthroughs in the field of disease treatment. As a novel discovered regulatory cell death in the past decade, ferroptosis is characterized by abnormal increase of intracellular iron ions and peroxidative damage of cell membrane lipids, morphological features of mitochondrial volume reduction, increased mitochondrial membrane density, as well as mitochondria decrease or disappear. The mechanism of ferroptosis is mainly associated with factors such as iron metabolism disorder, lipid metabolism abnormality, amino acid antioxidant system imbalance and oxidative stress. Since the liver is the main organ of human body for storing iron ions, it is necessary to deeply investigate the mechanism of ferroptosis in liver diseases. Relevant studies have shown that ferroptosis plays different roles in various liver diseases and is closely related to the process of liver diseases, including drug-induced liver injury, alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, viral hepatitis, liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this review is to link ferroptosis and liver diseases, concentrating on the iron metabolism disorder, accumulation of lipid peroxides in cell membranes, imbalance of amino acid antioxidant system, hyperpolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and its accumulation of lipid peroxides, oxidative stress-related transcription factors and other aspects. This review summarizes the regulatory mechanism, current situation and the roles of ferroptosis in liver diseases, in order to provide a new theoretical basis and ideas for the in-depth study of ferroptosis and the treatment of liver diseases.