ABSTRACT
italic>Cichorium glandulosum has been used to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Uyghur folk medicine. The mechanism of Cichorium glandulosum (CG)on type 2 diabetes mellitus accompanied with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (T2DM-NAFLD) remains unclear. The effect of CGextraction on T2DM-NAFLD was determined in animal experiments here (all the experiments here were approved by the Animal Care Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of the Medical College, Shihezi University). The mechanism of CG for treatment of T2DM-NAFLD was predicted and verified based on systems pharmacology. Based on the active compounds of CGon T2DM-NAFLD, T2DM and NAFLD-related targets, pathways and diseases were screened and predicted. Active compounds-targets, compounds-targets-pathways and compounds-targets-diseases were constructed and analyzed. The results of animal experiments showed that CGextractioncan reduce the levels of blood glucose and blood lipid in T2DM-NAFLD rats. In addition, it can improve the glucose tolerance and relieve liver injury. Total 29 active compounds and 198 targets were screened by systems pharmacology, of which 106 targets were involved in T2DM, 88 were involved in NAFLD, and 56 targets were common between T2DM and NAFLD, mainly related to insulin resistance and inflammation. These 198 targets include those in metabolic pathways, calcium pathway, PI3K/Akt pathway, cAMP pathway, and MAPK pathway. Our study confirmed that CG can be potential phytomedicine for treatment of T2DM-NAFLD. This work provides a reference for studying the treatment of multiple diseases using multiple-targets phytomedicine in systems pharmacology.