NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ›› 2021, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (2): 304-312. doi: 10.16333/j.1001-6880.2021.2.015

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Study on the mechanism of Huangqi-Baizhu-Shudihuang formula in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome based on network pharmacology

XUAN Chen1,XI Yu-meng2,ZHANG Yu-di2,TAO Chun-he2,ZHANG Lan-yue2,CAO Wen-fu1,2 *   

  1. 1Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine,the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University;2College of Traditional Chinese Medicine,Chongqing Medical University,Chongqing 400016,China
  • Online:2021-02-28 Published:2021-03-04

Abstract:

To explore the mechanism of Huangqi-Baizhu-Shudihuang formula (HBS) in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.Nephrotic syndrome genes were obtained from multiple databases and decomposed into functional modules to find out the main biological processes of nephrotic syndrome.The active components and targets of HBS were searched through literatures and databases,and the effective targets for the treatment of nephrotic syndrome were screened out.Through the KEGG and GO enrichment analysis of effective targets,the main biological processes and signal pathways were found out,and the target-function (TF) and target-pathway (TP) networks were constructed based on the analysis.After comprehensive analysis,the possible mechanism of HBS treatment for nephrotic syndrome was obtained.Finally,molecular docking technology was used to verify the docking of HBS compounds and key target proteins.Nephrotic syndrome genes are mainly related to cell proliferation,apoptosis and kidney development.A total of 18 effective targets were screened out.The effective targets are mainly related to the regulation of immune response,inflammatory response,cell proliferation and apoptosis,which are mainly concentrated in the signal pathways of IL-17,NF-κB,PI3K/Akt,FOXO,p53 and JAK/STAT.These are the possible pathways for HBS to regulate immune response,inflammatory response,cell proliferation and apoptosis.In addition,molecular docking results confirmed that HBS compounds had good binding activity with inflammatory cytokines such as TGFβ1,PTGS2,IL1B,IL2,IL4,IL10,TNF and CD40LG.This study suggests that HBS regulates the expression of key proteins in IL-17,NF-κB,PI3K/Akt,FOXO,p53 and JAK/STAT signaling pathways,which may improve the proliferation and apoptosis of mesangial cells and podocytes by regulating immune response and inflammatory response,thus playing a therapeutic role in the pathological changes of nephrotic syndrome including proteinuria and glomerulosclerosis.

Key words: Huangqi-Baizhu-Shudihuang formula, nephrotic syndrome, network pharmacology, mechanism

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