Abstract
Pungent traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) play a vital role in the clinical treatment of hepatobiliary disease, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, skin diseases and so on. Pungent TCMs have a vastness of pungent flavored (with pungent taste or smell) compounds. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of pungent flavored compounds in treating cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and liver diseases, five pungent TCMs with the action of blood-activating and stasis-resolving (BASR) were selected. Here, an integrated systems pharmacology approach is presented for illustrating the molecular correlations between pungent flavored compounds and their holistic efficacy at the special organ level. First, we identified target proteins that are associated with pungent flavored compounds and found that these targets were functionally related to CVDs and liver diseases. Then, based on the phenotype that directly links human genes to the body parts they affect, we clustered target modules associated with pungent flavored compounds into liver and heart organs. We applied systems-based analysis to introduce a pungent flavored compound-target-pathway-organ network that clarifies mechanisms of pungent substances treating cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases by acting on the heart/liver organ. The systems pharmacology also suggests a novel systematic strategy for rational drug development from pungent TCMs in treating cardiovascular disease and associated liver diseases.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and stroke accounting for the majority of deaths [1,2,3,4]
To further explore the underlying mechanisms of pungent flavored compounds that provide therapeutic effects in CVDs and liver diseases, we studied the organ target location based on tissue expression profile and phenotypic effects
Our main findings are as follows: (1) The spice compounds were considered as the material basis of pungent flavor and their holistic efficacy at the special organ level
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and stroke accounting for the majority of deaths [1,2,3,4]. These BASR TCMs mainly exert therapeutic effects by improving cardiovascular activities [14,15] They have been widely applied routinely in clinical practice for treating coronary heart disease [10,12,15,16], cardio protection [17,18,19], anginapectoris [20,21], hypertension [22], and hyperlipidemia [23], etc. In the research field of pungent flavor in TCM terms, the ligands of TRPs ion channels have potential efficacy in cardiovascular diseases. (2) And how the pungent flavored compounds from pungent TCMs act on the heart heart/liver to treat CVDs and liver diseases clinically? How the pungent flavored compounds from BASR TCMs treat CVDs and liver diseases by acting on the liver /heart organ is explained. The function of pungent flavor in pungent TCM is not so understood, and many further studies need to be considered for drug development based on the function of pungent flavor in TCM
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