Application of network pharmacology in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 by traditional Chinese medicine

ABSTRACT

Network pharmacology is an emerging technology based on systems biology and computer information technology, with the help of databases and related auxiliary software, to carry out new drug development and the screening analysis of drug active ingredients and targets. At present, the network pharmacology has been used widely in the research of prevention and treatment drugs for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This paper reviews the research methods of network pharmacology in the field of prevention and treatment of COVID-19 by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the development of its specific drugs and further explores the concrete application ideas of this technology. The necessary databases and tools of necessary for screening the active components and targets to molecular docking are summarized. In addition, the practical application of network pharmacology in the study of several potential TCM and active components against COVID-19 is reviewed, mainly including the screening of active components, the discovery of target, and the elucidation of action mechanism. The diversification of research ideas of network pharmacology in the field of TCM was realized, in particular, with two specific ideas in the study of active ingredients of TCM. Finally, the difference of control effect among several TCM and Western medicines on COVID-19 and the limitation and challenge of network pharmacology in TCM, i.e., the insufficient integrity and accuracy of the database, the uncertain complexity of components analysis, the unclear mechanism of component-target action, and some new challenges due to the characteristics of TCM, are discussed. In view of the importance of TCM in the field of control of COVID-19, the combination of TCM and network pharmacology will continue to play an important role in the development of specific drugs of COVID-19 in the future, in particular, to save time and reduce the workload of drug developers, which is also a direction of TCM development. This study provides theoretical reference and methodological basis for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 by TCM.