Immunomodulatory potential of Mongolian medicine in sepsis: current evidence, challenges, and translational perspectives
- 1Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology , ,
- 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University , , ,
Abstract
Sepsis is a heterogeneous, time-dependent syndrome in which inflammatory injury, immune suppression, endothelial dysfunction, metabolic disturbance, and barrier failure may coexist. This narrative review evaluates whether current pharmacological evidence provides a defensible basis for investigating Traditional Mongolian Medicine as an adjunctive source of immunomodulatory candidates in sepsis. A concise account of sepsis immunopathology is used as an interpretive framework, after which evidence from named Mongolian formulas, extracts, medicinal materials, and isolated constituents is mapped according to ethnomedical specificity, model directness, and study-design limitations. Direct sepsis-specific evidence is scarce. Daruqi particles, HHQG, Hohgardi-9, Nagab-9, Monflu, Batri-7, Qiqirigan-8, and selected extracts have mainly been studied in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury, organ-injury, enteritis, inflammatory, or metabolic models. These studies suggest effects on NF-κB/MAPK signaling, myeloid-cell infiltration, neutrophil extracellular traps, redox regulation, and lipid metabolism, but generally do not assess polymicrobial infection, pathogen clearance, survival, late immunosuppression, or human immune endotypes. Widely distributed compounds such as quercetin, berberine, geniposide, and gallate are therefore treated only as non-specific constituent-level evidence of pharmacological plausibility. We propose candidate-specific priorities for chemical standardization, rigorous sepsis modeling, pharmacokinetic and safety evaluation, and biomarker-guided translation. The current literature supports an ethnopharmacology-informed research agenda, not therapeutic efficacy in sepsis.
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BibTeX
@article{cui2026immunomodulatory,
title = {{Immunomodulatory potential of Mongolian medicine in sepsis: current evidence, challenges, and translational perspectives}},
author = {Shaohua Cui and Di Wu and Yongli Zhang and Lixia Geng},
journal = {Frontiers in immunology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2026.1888250},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13668521},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Immunomodulatory potential of Mongolian medicine in sepsis: current evidence, challenges, and translational perspectives
AU - Shaohua Cui
AU - Di Wu
AU - Yongli Zhang
AU - Lixia Geng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Frontiers in immunology
DO - 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1888250
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13668521
AB - Sepsis is a heterogeneous, time-dependent syndrome in which inflammatory injury, immune suppression, endothelial dysfunction, metabolic disturbance, and barrier failure may coexist. This narrative review evaluates whether current pharmacological evidence provides a defensible basis for investigating Traditional Mongolian Medicine as an adjunctive source of immunomodulatory candidates in sepsis. A concise account of sepsis immunopathology is used as an interpretive framework, after which evidence from named Mongolian formulas, extracts, medicinal materials, and isolated constituents is mapped according to ethnomedical specificity, model directness, and study-design limitations. Direct sepsis-specific evidence is scarce. Daruqi particles, HHQG, Hohgardi-9, Nagab-9, Monflu, Batri-7, Qiqirigan-8, and selected extracts have mainly been studied in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury, organ-injury, enteritis, inflammatory, or metabolic models. These studies suggest effects on NF-κB/MAPK signaling, myeloid-cell infiltration, neutrophil extracellular traps, redox regulation, and lipid metabolism, but generally do not assess polymicrobial infection, pathogen clearance, survival, late immunosuppression, or human immune endotypes. Widely distributed compounds such as quercetin, berberine, geniposide, and gallate are therefore treated only as non-specific constituent-level evidence of pharmacological plausibility. We propose candidate-specific priorities for chemical standardization, rigorous sepsis modeling, pharmacokinetic and safety evaluation, and biomarker-guided translation. The current literature supports an ethnopharmacology-informed research agenda, not therapeutic efficacy in sepsis.
SN - 1664-3224
ER -