Integrated Analysis of the Mechanisms of Da‐Chai‐Hu Decoction in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by a Network Pharmacology Approach

Abstract

Background. The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has increased year by year, which not only seriously affects people’s quality of life, but also imposes a heavy economic burden on the family, society, and country. Currently, the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of T2DM are still unclear. Therefore, exploration of a precise multitarget treatment strategy is urgent. Here, we attempt to screen out the active components, effective targets, and functional pathways of therapeutic drugs through network pharmacology with taking advantages of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas for multitarget holistic treatment of diseases to clarify the potential therapeutic mechanism of TCM formulas and provide a systematic and clear thought for T2DM treatment. Methods. First, we screened the active components of Da-Chai-Hu Decoction (DCHD) by absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADME/T) calculation. Second, we predicted and screened the active components of DCHD and its therapeutic targets for T2DM relying on the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Analysis Platform (TCMSP database) and Text Mining Tool (GoPubMed database), while using the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) to obtain T2DM targets. Third, we constructed a network of the active component-target, target-pathway of DCHD using Cytoscape software (http://cytoscape.org/,ver.3.5.1) and then analyzed gene function, related biological processes, and signal pathways through the DAVID database. Results. We screened 77 active components from 1278 DCHD components and 116 effective targets from 253 ones. After matching the targets of T2DM, we obtained 38 important targets and 7 core targets were selected through further analysis. Through enrichment analysis, we found that these important targets were mainly involved in many biological processes such as oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction, and apoptosis. After analyzing the relevant pathways, the synthetic pathway for the treatment of T2DM was obtained, which provided a diagnosis-treatment idea for DCHD in the treatment of T2DM. Conclusions. This article reveals the mechanism of DCHD in the treatment of T2DM related to inflammatory response and apoptosis through network pharmacology, which lays a foundation for further elucidation of drugs effective targets.

An Investigation of the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Analgesic Effect of Jakyak‐Gamcho Decoction: A Network Pharmacology Study

“…e goal of this integrative science is to unveil the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and drug activity that are coordinated through the interactions among diverse biological components such as genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and organs [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. Previous network pharmacology studies successfully investigated the polypharmacological properties of herbal drugs by identifying their active compounds and key therapeutic targets and further elucidating the distinct system-level pharmacological effects and mechanisms (e.g., therapeutic modulation of biological processes such as proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle regulation, angiogenesis, oxidation and reduction, insulin metabolism, and inflammation) for the treatment of various diseases, including cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and ischemic stroke, which are exerted by the synergistic interplay between multiple compounds and targets contained in herbal drugs [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79]. In the present network pharmacology study, we aimed to uncover the molecular mechanisms that underlie the analgesic properties of JGd with a system's perspective.…”

The Network Pharmacology Study And Molecular Docking To Investigate The Potential Mechanism of Acoritataninowii Rhizoma Against Alzheimer's Disease

“…In network pharmacological research, Molecular docking was used to verify ingredient-target association 8, 9,23 . The molecular structure of each ingredient in the work was obtained from TCMSP database (https://tcmspw.com/tcmsp.php) and saved as a mol2 format le.…”

Molecular Targets and Mechanisms of Hedyotis diffusa-Scutellaria barbata Herb Pair for the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

“…Network pharmacology emphasizes the combination of bioinformatics, system biology, and pharmacology, which not only explains the interaction between TCM and diseases but also conforms to the systematic and holistic view of TCM [ 20 , 21 ]. Network pharmacology updates the “one target, one drug” model to the “multicomponent, multitarget” model and clarifies the complex interactions between genes, proteins, and metabolites related to diseases and drugs from the perspective of the network, which provides the possibility for us to systematically study the relationship between TCM and diseases [ 22 , 23 ]. In this study, network pharmacology was used to analyze the active ingredients, potential targets, and main mechanisms of HS in the treatment of CRC, and to construct the herb-ingredient-target-disease network, so as to provide a reference for the study of the specific mechanism of the drug in the treatment of CRC.…”