ABSTRACT
Aim To explore the potential mechanism of Dangshen Pingfei Huoxue decoction (DPHD) in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. Methods The common targets of DPHD and pulmonary fibrosis were obtained. Cytoscape software was used to construct " disease-drug-ingredients-targets " network diagram, and the common targets were imported into the STRING database for protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis to screen out the core targets. In order to screen out key signaling pathways, the core genes were inputted into the DAVID platform for gene ontology (GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. Then the molecular docking technology was used to verify the molecular docking between the core components and the key proteins in the signaling pathway. Finally, the molecular docking technology was used to verify the results of network pharmacology. Results A total of 176 active ingredients were obtained, and the top 5 was quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, naringenin and p-sitosterol, respectively. A total of 116 common targets were obtained. A total of 21 core targets were finally obtained by PPI screening, and the top 5 was AKT1, CCND1, CASP3, MYC and IL1B, respectively. The results of GO enrichment analysis showed that DPHD was mainly involved biological processes of oxidative stress, proliferation and differentiation, transcriptional regulation, drug response and inflammatory response. The results of KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that the mainly signaling pathways included PI3K/Akt, MAPK, cellular senescence, AMPK, and TGF-beta. Molecular docking results showed that the binding energies of the top 5 active components of DPHD and the top 5 core targets were all less than-6.0 kcal • mo