Major Breakthrough! Antimalarial Drug Artesunate “Crosses Over” to Protect the Liver, New Mechanism Revealed March 10, 2026

Liver injury can deteriorate into acute liver failure, posing a severe threat to life. As an antimalarial drug approved by the U.S. FDA, artesunate (ART) has been proven to possess significant potential in regulating cell death and inflammatory responses in addition to its antimalarial effects.

On February 28, 2026, a research team led by Yuan Bao from Jilin University published a study in Advanced Science (IF=14.1), uncovering a novel liver-protective effect and molecular mechanism of artesunate (ART).

The study confirmed that artesunate exerts protective effects in various animal models of liver injury. Its mechanism is as follows: ART can directly bind to the specific site of the NEDD4L protein, enhance its interaction with the substrate TXNIP, and promote the ubiquitination and degradation of TXNIP, thereby alleviating liver injury.

It is reported that current treatments for liver injury have limitations. This study discovered that the NEDD4L‑TXNIP axis is involved in the progression of liver injury, suggesting the potential application value of artesunate in the clinical treatment of liver injury.