Using network pharmacology to explore the mechanism of Danggui-Shaoyao-San in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease

Abstract

Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS) is one of traditional Chinese medicine, which recently was found to play a protective role in diabetic kidney disease (DKD). However, the pharmacological mechanisms of DSS remain obscure. This study would explore the molecular mechanisms and bioactive ingredients of DSS in the treatment of DKD through network pharmacology. The potential target genes of DKD were obtained through OMIM database, the DigSee database and the DisGeNET database. DSS-related targets were acquired from the BATMAN-TCM database and the STITCH database. The common targets of DSS and DKD were selected for analysis in the STRING database, and the results were imported into Cytoscape to construct a protein-protein interaction network. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enrichment analysis and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis were carried out to further explore the mechanisms of DSS in treating DKD. Molecular docking was conducted to identify the potential interactions between the compounds and the hub genes. Finally, 162 therapeutic targets of DKD and 550 target genes of DSS were obtained from our screening process. Among this, 28 common targets were considered potential therapeutic targets of DSS for treating DKD. Hub signaling pathways including HIF-1 signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, AMPK signaling pathway, mTOR signaling pathway, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway may be involved in the treatment of DKD using DSS. Furthermore, TNF and PPARG, and poricoic acid C and stigmasterol were identified as hub genes and main active components in this network, respectively. In this study, DSS appears to treat DKD by multi-targets and multi-pathways such as inflammatory, oxidative stress, autophagy and fibrosis, which provided a novel perspective for further research of DSS for the treatment of DKD.

Exploring early DNA methylation alterations in type 1 diabetes: implications of glycemic control

“…Hyperglycemia is known to induce synaptic dysfunction and disrupt the balance of neurotransmitter secretion ( 47 ). Furthermore, differential gene expression analyses in various diabetic tissues were similar to our findings, with overlapping pathways observed in skeletal muscle ( 48 ), β-cell-enriched tissue ( 49 ), diabetic kidney ( 50 , 51 ), and diabetic peripheral neuropathy ( 52 ).…”

In Vivo Metabolite Profiling of DMU-212 in ApcMin/+ Mice Using UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap/LTQ MS

“…The absolute value of the binding energ indicates the affinity of the ligands with the target and the conformational stability. Th absolute value greater than 4.25 kcal/mol, 5.0 kcal/mol, and 7.0 kcal/mol indicates certain, good and strong binding activity, respectively [10]. The molecular docking resul showed that the binding ability of all DMU-212 metabolites to BSHs was stronger, and th absolute values of the binding energy of each active component were stronger than th of DMU-212 (7.0 kcal/mol).…”