Network Pharmacology Analysis on Zhichan Powder in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Jia Li ◽  
Xinchang Qi ◽  
Yajuan Sun ◽  
Yingyu Zhang ◽  
Jiajun Chen

Aim and Objective: Effective components and the mechanism of action of Zhichan powder for the treatment of Parkinson's disease were researched at a systematic level. Materials and Methods: Screening of active components in Zhichan powder for the treatment of Parkinson's disease was conducted using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology database, and a medicine-target-disease network was established with computational network pharmacology. Results: By using network pharmacology methods, we identified 18 major active components in Zhichan powder through screening, indicating a connection between chemical components of this Traditional Chinese Medicine and Parkinson’s disease-related targets. Conclusion: The medicine-target-disease system of Zhichan powder established by network pharmacology permitted visualization of clustering and differences among chemical components in this prescription, as well as the complex mechanism of molecular activities among those effective components, relevant targets, pathways, and the disease. Thus, our results provide a new perspective and method for revealing the mechanism of action of Traditional Chinese Medicine prescriptions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Wenhao Niu ◽  
Feng Wu ◽  
Haiming Cui ◽  
Wenyue Cao ◽  
YuChieh Chao ◽  
...  

“Three formulas and three medicines,” which include Jinhua Qinggan granule, Lianhua Qingwen capsule/granule, Xuebijing injection, Qingfei Paidu decoction, HuaShiBaiDu formula, and XuanFeiBaiDu granule, have been proven to be effective in curbing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The aims of this study were to identify the active components of “Three formulas and three medicines” that can be used to treat COVID-19, determine their mechanism of action via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) by integrating network pharmacological approaches, and confirm the most effective components for COVID-19 treatment or prevention. We investigated all the compounds present in the aforementioned herbal ingredients. Compounds that could downregulate the transcription factors (TFs) of ACE2 and upregulate miRNAs of ACE2 were screened via a network pharmacology approach. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4A), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), hsa-miR-2113, and hsa-miR-421 were found to regulate ACE2. Several compounds, such as quercetin, decreased ACE2 expression by regulating the aforementioned TFs or miRNAs. After comparison with the compounds present in Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma, quercetin, glabridin, and gallic acid present in the herbal formulas and medicines were found to alter ACE2 expression. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were used to search for possible molecular mechanisms of these compounds. In conclusion, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays a pivotal role in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Quercetin, glabridin, and gallic acid, the active components of recommended TCM formulas and medicines, can inhibit COVID-19 by downregulating ACE2.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin-Zhou Huang ◽  
Hui Chen ◽  
Yu-Ming Wang ◽  
Xi-He Zhang ◽  
Ke-Bin Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Drynaria Fortunei and Cuscuta Chinensis are among the most used traditional Chinese medicine herbal prescriptions and have a significant therapeutic effect on osteoarthritis. However, the purpose of this study intends to elaborate the molecular mechanism of action through network pharmacology. The active ingredients of TCM and the potential targets for the treatment of osteoarthritis were selected through the TCMSP, OMIM and Genecards. Results: The 27 components and 85/117 targets of Drynaria Fortunei and/or Cuscuta Chinensis were identified for osteoarthritis. Pharmacological and PPI network analysis identified top 3 active components (kaempferol, luteolin, and quercetin) and core proteins (IL6, AKT1, and VEGFA). GO and KEGG analysis identified the top 3 functions (cytokine and cell/nuclear receptor) and pathways (PI3K-Akt, TNF and IL-17). Molecular docking showed strong binding ability between quercetin-AKT1 and luteolin-IL6/VEGFA. Interaction analysis mapped the quercetin-AKT1 and luteolin-IL6/VEGFA binding to specific hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds. Conclusions: The main active components, common target proteins, functional activities, and signaling pathways of TCM Drynaria Fortunei and Cuscuta Chinensis for the treatment of osteoarthritis were identified by Network pharmacology. We found, for the first time, that drynariae rhizoma and cuscuta chinensis suppress osteoarthritis by quercetin-AKT1/IL6 and luteolin-VEGFA direct binding. Our findings have significant implication for our understanding of the molecular mechanism of action in the treatment of osteoarthritis and future development of osteoarthritis treatment using quercetin and luteolin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolei Ma ◽  
Yinan Lu ◽  
Yang Lu ◽  
Zhili Pei

Background: Tufuling Qiwei Tangsan (TQTS) is a commonly used Mongolian medicine preparation against psoriasis in China. However, its mechanism of action and molecular targets for the treatment of psoriasis is still unclear. Network pharmacology can reveal the synergistic mechanism of drugs at the molecular, target and pathway levels, and is suitable for the complex study of traditional Chinese medicine formulations. However, it is rarely involved in the application of Mongolian medicine with the same holistic concept of traditional Chinese medicine. Method: In this paper, the active compounds of TQTS were collected and their targets were identified. Psoriasis-related targets were obtained by analyzing the differential expressed genes between psoriasis patients and healthy individuals. Then, the network concerning the interactions of potential targets of TQTS with well-known psoriasis-related targets was built. The core targets were selected according to topological parameters. And the enrichment analysis was carried out to explore the mechanism of action of TQTS. Moreover, molecular docking was performed to study the interaction between the selected ligands and receptors related to psoriasis. Result and Conclusion: Eighty-five active compounds of TQTS were screened, with corresponding 270 targets, and 313 differentially expressed genes were identified. Additionally, enrichment analysis showed that the targets of TQTS for treating psoriasis were mainly concentrated in multiple biological processes, including apoptosis, growth factor response,etc., and related pathways including PI3K-Akt and MAPK signaling pathway, and so on. Genes such as NFKB1, TP53 and MAPK1 are the key genes in the gene pathway network of TQTS against psoriasis. The 4 main active components of TQTS have certain binding activity with 13 potential targets, and the stability of interaction with AKT1 is the best, which indicate the potential mechanism of TQTS on psoriasis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Zhaowei Zhai ◽  
Xinru Tao ◽  
Mohammad Murtaza Alami ◽  
Shaohua Shu ◽  
Xuekui Wang

Hypertension is a cardiovascular disease that causes great harm to health and life, affecting the function of important organs and accompanied by a variety of secondary diseases, which need to be treated with drugs for a long time. P. ternata alone or combination with western medicine has played an important role in traditional Chinese medicine. Although P. ternata is used clinically to treat hypertension, its functional molecular mechanism and pharmacological mechanism have not been elucidated. Therefore, in this study, the potentially effective components, and targets of P. ternata in the treatment of hypertension were screened by the method of network pharmacology, and the mechanism of P. ternata in the treatment of hypertension was analyzed by constructing a component-target relationship network, PPI interaction network, targets’ function analysis, and molecular docking. In the study, 12 potentially effective components and 88 targets were screened, and 3 potential protein modules were found and analyzed after constructing a PPI network using targets. In addition, 10 targets were selected as core targets of the PPI network. After that, the targets were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. Finally, the molecular docking method is used to study the interaction between the targets and the active components. The above evidence shows that the mechanism of P. ternata in the treatment of hypertension is complicated, as it acts in many ways, mainly by affecting nerve signal transmission, cell proliferation, and apoptosis, calcium channels, and so on. The binding between targets and active components mainly depends on Pi bonds and hydrogen bonds. Using the method of network pharmacology and molecular docking to analyze the mechanism of P. ternata in the treatment of hypertension will help to provide a better scientific basis for the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, and will better help to improve the quality of P. ternata and point out its direction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Liu ◽  
Xin Zheng ◽  
Jiajun Li ◽  
Xiong Li ◽  
Ruimei Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: The traditional Chinese medicine Caulis Sargentodoxae is widely used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC), but the mechanism remains unknown. The present study aims to reveal its effective components, targets and pathways through network pharmacology and bioinformatics approaches. Materials and methods: Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) was used to identify effective components. The ligand-based targets prediction was achieved through SwissTargetPrediction and TargetNet. UC-related targets were identified using Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data and DisGeNET. The common targets of disease and components were constructed and analyzed by PPI network. Lastly, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses are used to explain the functions of these common targets. Components-Targets-Pathways network was visualized and analyzed to further reveal the connection between the components and targets. Results: Eight active components and 102 key targets were identified to play an important role in UC. These targets were related to regulation of protein serine/threonine kinase activity, positive regulation of cell motility, response to molecule of bacterial origin, response to toxic substance, ERK1 and ERK2 cascade, peptidyl-tyrosine modification, inositol lipid-mediated signaling, cellular response to drug, regulation of inflammatory response and leukocyte migration. Moreover, HIF-1 signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway were the key targets involved in UC-related signaling pathways. Conclusion: The eight active components of Caulis Sargentodoxae mainly play a therapeutic role for UC through synergistic regulation of HIF-1 signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Gong ◽  
Zijin Xu ◽  
Shushu Hao ◽  
Boqian Chen ◽  
Shengcheng Zhuang ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundReports indicate that saffron originated from Iran then introduced into mainland China through the earlier established trans-Tibet trade routes in ancient China. Based to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, saffron functions by promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, cooling blood and detoxification, as well as relieving depression for tranquilization. Modern medical research has demonstrated several properties of saffron including antitumor, antidepressant, enhancement of immunity, cardioprotection. Notably, recent studies introduce that saffron has a neuroprotective effect, specifically in the treatment of Parkinson's disease in recent years. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive so far. As such, this study aims to predict the underlying mechanism of saffron on Parkinson's disease through network pharmacology and molecular docking.MethodsA functional-based network pharmacology and molecular docking model was constructed for dissecting the underlying mechanism of saffron on Parkinson's disease. Based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology database (TCMSP) and the literature reviews, the putative targets of Saffron were collected. Further, the interaction networks of Drug- candidate compounds targets-Therapeutic targets-Disease were mined using the Cytoscape software. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were conducted and the String database was used to analyze the protein interaction network. Finally, Molecular docking was used to predict the interaction between the components in Saffron and key targets by MOE 2014.09 software.ResultsA total of 9 candidate compounds from saffron corresponding to 52 therapeutic targets of Parkinson's disease were identified. The neuroprotective effect of saffron in the treatment of PD was attributed to the strong binding between crocin (including crocin I and crocin II) as well as key targets including CASP3, IL6, and MAPK8. Additionally, the auxiliary neuroprotective effects might have originated from quercetin, kaempferol, isorhamnetin, crocetin, safranal, and picrocrocin because of their slightly weaker binding capacity to the key targets.ConclusionSaffron exhibits a synergistic effect via multiple targets and pathways in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and our systemic pharmacological analysis provides a basis for the clinical application and in-depth study of saffron.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Shuhan Zhou ◽  
Yanjun Duan ◽  
Yu Deng ◽  
Miao Wang ◽  
Chaoqun Huang ◽  
...  

Chronic gastritis (CG) places a considerable burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulas characterized by multicompounds and multitargets have been acknowledged with striking effects in the treatment of CG in China’s history. Nevertheless, their accurate mechanisms of action are still ambiguous. In this study, we analyzed the effective compounds, potential targets, and related biological pathway of Lianpu Drink (LPD), a TCM formula which has been reported to have a therapeutic effect on CG, by contrasting a “compound-target-disease” network. According to the results, 92 compounds and 5762 putative targets of LPD were screened; among them, 8 compounds derived from different herbs in LPD and 30 common targets related to LPD and CG were selected as candidate compounds and precision targets, respectively. Meanwhile, the predicted common targets were verified by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signaling pathway analysis and pharmacological experiments. The results demonstrated that quercetin, ephedrine, trigonelline, crocetin, and β-sitosterol were major effective compounds of LPD responsible for the CG treatment by inhibiting the activation of the JAK 2-STAT 3 signaling pathway to reduce the expressions of cyclin D1 and Bcl-2 proteins. The study provides evidence for the mechanism of understanding of LPD for the treatment of CG.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Li ◽  
Guhang Wei ◽  
Zhenkun Zhuang ◽  
Mingtai Chen ◽  
Changjian Yuan ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundCorydalis Rhizoma(CR) showed a high efficacy for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the interaction between the active ingredients of CR and the targets of CHD has not been unequivocally explained in previous researches. To study the active components and potential targets of Corydalis Rhizoma and to determine the mechanism underlying the exact effect of Corydalis Rhizoma on coronary heart disease, a method of network pharmacology was used.Materials and MethodsThe active components of CR and targets corresponding to each component were scanned out from Traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP), and target genes of CHD were searched on GeneCards database and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM) database. The active components and common targets of CR and CHD were used to build the “CR-CHD” network through Cytoscape (version 3.2.1) software as well as protein-protein interaction(PPI) network on String database. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was executed by clusterProfiler(version 3.8) and DOSE(version 3.6) package on R platform.Results49 active ingredients and 394 relevant targets of CR and the 7173 CHD-related genes were retrieved. 40 common genes were selected for subsequent analysis. Crucial biological processes and pathways were obtained and analyzed, including DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific, RNA polymerase II transcription factor binding, kinase regulator activity, ubiquitin-like protein ligase binding, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, TNF signaling pathway, apoptosis, MAPK signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.ConclusionsOverall, CR could alleviate CHD through the mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology, laying the foundation for future development of new drugs from traditional Chinese medicine on CHD.


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