Mechanism of Sinomenii caulis in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis based on network pharmacology / 药学实践杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the molecular targets and associated potential pathways of Sinomenii caulis in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on network pharmacology. Methods The constituents of Sinomenii caulis were searched by Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP). The potential active ingredients were screened based on oral bioavailability (OB) and drug like index (DL) in TCMSP database. The potential targets of active ingrediens were explored based on DRAR-CPI docking server. RA related gene targets were retrieved through GeneCards and OMIM database. Venn online software was used to obtain the common target of drugs and diseases. The "herbs-compound-target-disease" network diagram was constructed by using Cytoscape software. String database was used to draw the protein interaction (PPI) network. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of the intersection network were conducted by Bioconductor Database. Results 6 active ingredients and 176 targets were identified. 305 target genes directly related to RA were obtained from the GeneCards and OMIM databases. 15 genes were obtained from the intersection of component-target and disease-target. The GO function analysis found 500 items on biological process (BP), 18 items on cellular component (CC), and 28 items on molecular function (MF). KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed 77 pathways. Conclusion This study identified six active ingredients from Sinomenii caulis and revealed the key targets of the anti-RA treatment with Sinomenii caulis being IL10、IL4、INS、MAPK8、ELANE、MAPK1 and MAPK14. The important biological processes and signaling pathways including infection, inflammation and immunity were explored. It has laid the foundation for further molecular biology experiments.