RESUMEN
Objective: To study the mechanism of modified Taohe Chengqitang in preventing and treating diabetic nephropathy by means of network pharmacology. Method: Target genes of modified Taohe Chengqitang were obtained from BAT-MAN database, while target genes of diabetic nephropathy were obtained from CTD database. The target genes of disease-drug protein were obtained by crossing two groups of genes. STRING was used to build the protein-protein interaction network and visualize the results. The key genes were screened out through the computational analysis algorithm of network structure and weighted relatedness between nodes. With DAVID online tools, gene ontology (GO) analysis of Disease-Drug Intersection Target Genes and enrichment analysis of kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) pathway were conducted. Finally, CTD database and literature study were used to obtain the key genes in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Result: Among 621 compounds in modified Taohe Chengqitang, 581 of them were related to diabetic nephropathy. NOS3, OAT, NT5C2, ACACB, AGXT, PDE3B and other key genes mainly regulated nerve tissue transmission, cholinergic synaptic pathway, calcium channel, metabolic pathway, purine metabolic pathway, angiotensin-neurosynaptic pathway, cyclic guanosine monophosphate/cGMP-dependent protein kinase G (cGMP/PKG) signaling pathway and cyclic adenosine phosphate signaling pathway, with effect in molecular reactions, such as plasma membrane, postsynaptic membrane and mitochondria. Conclusion: The network pharmacology predicts the key targets of modified Taohe Chengqitang in the prevention and treatment of diabetic nephropathy and the related pathways involved, suggesting a multi-target, multi-channel and multi-choice complex mechanism, and which is mostly related to anti-inflammation, oxidative phosphorylation and purine metabolism.