Predicting the levels of orcinol glucoside during the treatment of osteoporosis by network pharmacology and molecular docking

Abstract

Introduction: As a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. (Xianmao) has been widely used to treat bone-related diseases. However, the active components of this TCM, and the specific mechanisms by which it exerts effect, have yet to be elucidated. To identify potential targets for orcinol glucoside (OG), an active constituent of C. orchioides, during the treatment of osteoporosis (OP) by adopting a network pharmacology approach. Methods: First, we mined the Similarity ensemble approach (SEA), SwissTargetPrediction, DisGeNET, and Genecards databases were mined for data related to the prediction of OG- and OP-related targets. Next, we identified the common targets for OG and OP, and then used STRING software to create a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Then, we used topological analysis to identify which of the common targets were most significant. Then, we used the common significant targets and g:profiler to perform gene ontology (GO) term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes ( KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Finally, we used molecular docking to predict the targets of OG that were most relevant to the treatment of OP and investigated the potential pharmacological mechanisms that might be involved. Results: In total, 130 potential targets of OG, and 4582 targets relevant to OP, were subjected to network analysis. There were 73 common targets; these identified the principal pathways linked to OP. In addition, topological analysis identified 14 key targets. Most of the predicted targets played crucial roles in the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Molecular docking identified ten core targets (VEGFA, IL6, EGFR, MAPK1, HRAS, CCND1, FGF2, IL2, MCL1 and CDK4), thus indicating that OG may promote osteoblast proliferation and differentiation by accelerating progression of the cell cycle.Conclusions: This research provides a theoretical base for identifying the specific potential mechanisms of OG in treatment of OP.