J Food Biochem. 2020;00:e13219. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfbc | 1 of 9 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfc.13219 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC 1 | INTRODUCTION Liver diseases are considered as an important diagnostic sign for body health. In such countries that suffers from obesity and alcohol abuse; liver diseases obviously occur, while in poor localities, the main cause of liver diseases are infectious diseases mainly from viruses and para- sites as in Africa and Asia (Buonomo et al., 2019). Liver fibrosis occurs as a result of chronic liver diseases, in which excessive accumulation of some extracellular proteins such as collagen are presented. Information about the cellular and molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis has been Received: 3 December 2019 | Revised: 8 March 2020 | Accepted: 10 March 2020 DOI: 10.1111/jfbc.13219 FULL ARTICLE Immunomodulatory effect of curcumin on hepatic cirrhosis in experimental rats Mabrouk A. Abo-Zaid 1 | Emad S. Shaheen 2 | Ahmed H. Ismail 1 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia 2 Medical Research Centre, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia Correspondence Mabrouk A. Abo-Zaid and Ahmed H. Ismail, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Email: mabrouk_ss@yahoo.com (M. A. A.-Z.) and ahanafy12@gmail.com (A. H. I.) Abstract Cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease. The present work aimed to evaluate the regula- tory immune effect of curcumin in hepatic cirrhosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) injections in experimental rats’ model. Chronic liver fibrosis was induced in ex- periment animals by recurrent injections of CCl4 for more than 5 weeks. They were divided into five groups: first group was injected with normal saline, second group with CCl4, third, fourth, and fifth groups were injected with CCl4 (intraperitoneal injection) at dose 3 ml/kg, two times weekly for 6 weeks supplemented with the ad- ministration of curcumin with concentrations 250, 200, and 150 mg/kg. Immune re- sponse was analyzed to different treatments. Interleukin 10 (IL-10), pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, TGF-1β, and liver histopathological examinations were conducted. The results showed that estimations of IL-10 concentrations were significantly in- creased in curcumin groups compared with CCl4 group, whereas TNF-α and TGF-1β levels were significantly decreased comparing with CCl4 group. The histopathologi- cal examinations for liver tissues showed that curcumin treated groups have almost retained the normal structure of liver tissues. In conclusion, curcumin inhibited he- patic fibrosis and liver fibrogenesis with regulation of the immune system mechanism against invader chemical toxicity. Practical applications Curcumin is well documented for its medicinal properties, commonly used as a spice. Our work has thus demonstrated its effectiveness as an immunomodulatory agent. Practically, clinical studies have suggested that curcumin displays a diverse and powerful array of pharmacological effects in nearly all of the human body's major organ systems. These are: antidiabetes, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiaging, antioxidant, antibacte- rial infection, hepatoprotective, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular effects. KEYWORDS curcumin, cytokines, hepatic cirrhosis, immunomodulatory