Mechanism of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis based on integrated chemomics and network pharmacology / 国际药学研究杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the mechanism of Leigongteng Pian(Tripterygium wilfordii tablets)for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis(RA)based on chemomics and network pharmacology. Method: UPLC-Q-TOF/HRMS was used to analyze the chemical constituents of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets under the positive and negative ion modes. Thereafter,the ingredient targets of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets were predicted by Swiss Target Prediction and Pharm- Mapper databases,and the targets of RA diseases were obtained by Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP),Therapeutic Target Database(TTD)and Comparative Toxicogenomics Database(CTD). By taking the inter-section of ingredient targets and disease targets,the direct common targets of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets for the treat- ment of rheumatoid arthritis were obtained. Then the GeneMANIA database was used to obtain indirect targets,and the software of Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to construct the protein-protein interaction(PPI)networks of potential targets,by which the key targets were screened. Enrichment of gene function and pathways of all potential targets were conducted by Gene Ontology(GO)database and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)database to explore the mecha- nism of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Results: Thirtyone chemical constituents of Tripterygium wilfordii tablets were screened out and sixtysix potential targets were predicted. Twentyseven active com- ponents in the Tripterygium wilfordii tablets might be important components for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as in- dicated by the reverse screening. At the same time,five core targets were screened out,which might be involved in the key pathways that actively participate in the intervention and adjustion of rheumatoid arthritis. Conclusion: In this study,we found that the active components in Tripterygium wilfordii tablets could exert important biological effects via multiple targets and pathways,and these targets and pathways are all involved with the inflammation and immune regula- tion of RA.