Network pharmacological mechanism of Runfei Ningshen Decoction in the treatment of insomnia caused by COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the mechanism of Runfei Ningshen Decoction in the treatment of insomnia caused by corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19) by using network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. Methods: The chemical components and targets of Chinese medicinal materials of Runfei Ningshen Decoction in TCMSP, Batman, and CTD databases were searched. The relevant targets of novel coronavirus pneumonia and insomnia in Disgenet, GeneCards, CTD, and Malacards databases were searched. The component-target-disease network was established by using Cytoscape 3.2.1 software;The protein-protein intereation(PPI) network was constructed in string database. The common targets were enriched by using Cluster Profiler software package in R language software platform. The molecular docking of core targets related to insomnia caused by COVID-19 was carried out by using Discovery Studio 4.0 software. Results: 349 medicinal ingredients in Runfei Ningshen Decoction, 1 904 targets, 1 505 new coronavirus pneumonia-related targets, and 1 337 insomnia-related targets were collected. When the intersection of Venn diagrams were used, 404 common targets were obtained for the 2 diseases. 250 targets were intersected with the 2 diseases, and 33 core targets were screened out by the analysis of the interaction network between targets. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that Runfei Ningshen Decoction mainly acts on AKT1, INS, TP53, IL-6, key targets such as AKT1, INS, TP53, IL-6, JUN, CASP3, TNF, CAT, PTGS2 and CXCL8, which are involved in the important pathway processes such as human cytomegalovirus infection, fluid shear stress, and AGE-RAGE signaling pathways in complications of atherosclerosis and diabetes. The results of molecular docking showed that the core target has a high affinity with beta-sitosterol, 1-methoxy phaseolin, 3'-hydroxy-4'-O-methylglycyrrhizin, and anhydroicariin. The prescription treatment of insomnia caused by COVID-19 may be through the targets such as PTGS2, AR, PPARG, NOS2, HSP90 AA1 and so on. Conclusion: Runfei Ningshen Decoction can treat insomnia caused by COVID-19 by inhibiting IL-6 and TNF-a.