Molecular Targets and Associated Potential Pathways of Danlu Capsules in Hyperplasia of Mammary Glands Based on Systems Pharmacology

Abstract

Hyperplasia of mammary glands (HMG) is common in middle-aged women. Danlu capsules (DLCs) can effectively relieve pain and improve clinical symptoms and are safe for treating HMG. However, the active substances in DLCs and the molecular mechanisms of DLCs in HMG remain unclear. This study identified the bioactive compounds and delineated the molecular targets and potential pathways of DLCs by using a systems pharmacology approach. The candidate compounds were retrieved from the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology (TCMSP) database and analysis platform. Each candidate's druggability was analyzed according to its oral bioavailability and drug-likeness indices. The candidate proteins and genes were extracted in the TCMSP and UniProt Knowledgebase, respectively. The potential pathways associated with the genes were identified by performing gene enrichment analysis with DAVID Bioinformatics Resources 6.7. A total of 603 compounds were obtained from DLCs, and 39 compounds and 66 targets associated with HMG were obtained. Gene enrichment analysis yielded 10 significant pathways with 34 targets. The integrated HMG pathway revealed that DLCs probably act in patients with HMG through multiple mechanisms of anti-inflammation, analgesic effects, and hormonal regulation. This study provides novel insights into the mechanisms of DLCs in HMG, from the molecular level to the pathway level.

Network Pharmacology-Based Strategy to Investigate the Pharmacologic Mechanisms of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. for the Treatment of Chronic Gastritis

“…Most ingredients in Chinese formulations have poor pharmacologic properties, so they cannot bind to specific protein targets on cells efficaciously. Therefore, several researchers have recommended that molecules with OB ≥ 30% or DL ≥ 0.18 are considered to have better pharmacologic effects, and are selected as candidate ingredients for further analyses (Liu et al, 2016;Huang et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2019). We used this principle to screen for active ingredients to be used in further analyses.…”

“…Danlu capsules, the Maxing Ganshi Decoction, Wei Pi Xiao Decoction and Xiaoyao powder have been adopted widely in TCM (Liu et al, 2016;Huang et al, 2017;Song et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2019). AMK can be efficacious for CG treatment, but the active ingredients, drug targets, and the exact molecular mechanism are not known.…”

A network pharmacology-based study on Alzheimer disease prevention and treatment of Qiong Yu Gao

“…Besides, Cytoscape plugin ClueGO [29] was applied to analyze the gene ontology (GO) enrichment. The terms with Expression Analysis Systematic Explorer scores of ≤0.05 were selected for functional annotation clustering and a p value of ≤0.05 for multiple hypothesis testing error was regarded as the significance cutoff [30]. Smaller p values indicated greater enrichment.…”

Interpreting the Pharmacological Mechanisms of Huachansu Capsules on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Through Combining Network Pharmacology and Experimental Evaluation

“…The approaches of systematic pharmacology and network pharmacology provide a new perspective for studying Chinese herbal formulas (Zineh, 2019). Our previous studies have successfully predicted the bioactive substances and molecular targets of several Chinese herbal formulas, which included Yinchenhao decoction , Danlu capsule (Huang et al, 2017a), Xuangui dropping pill (Huang et al, 2017b), and Fructus Schisandrae .…”