Abstract
Reduning Injection (RDNI) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula indicated for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. However, the molecular mechanism of RDNI is unclear. The information of RDNI ingredients was collected from previous studies. Targets of them were obtained by data mining and molecular docking. The information of targets and related pathways was collected in UniProt and KEGG. Networks were constructed and analyzed by Cytoscape to identify key compounds, targets, and pathways. Data mining and molecular docking identified 11 compounds, 84 targets, and 201 pathways that are related to the anti-inflammatory activity of RDNI. Network analysis identified two key compounds (caffeic acid and ferulic acid), five key targets (Bcl-2, eNOS, PTGS2, PPARA, and MMPs), and four key pathways (estrogen signaling pathway, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, and calcium signaling pathway) which would play critical roles in the treatment of inflammatory diseases by RDNI. The cross-talks among pathways provided a deeper understanding of anti-inflammatory effect of RDNI. RDNI is capable of regulating multiple biological processes and treating inflammation at a systems level. Network pharmacology is a practical approach to explore the therapeutic mechanism of TCM for complex disease.
Highlights
Inflammation is regarded as a kind of congenital immunity as well as the basis of various physiological and pathological processes, and it can affect human health and living quality in many respects [1,2,3,4]
The results indicate that the molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory function of Reduning Injection (RDNI) can be discovered by computational modeling, which provides a practical approach to study the mechanism of the action (MOA) of Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) prescription
Sixty-seven known targets for 9 compounds and 2 metabolites of RDNI were found in PubChem, BindingDB, and TCMSP (Supplementary Table S1)
Summary
Inflammation is regarded as a kind of congenital immunity as well as the basis of various physiological and pathological processes, and it can affect human health and living quality in many respects [1,2,3,4]. Five typical symptoms of inflammation are fever, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function [5]. There are at present more than one hundred FDA-approved antiinflammatory drugs, which are classified into steroid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [11,12,13]. These drugs are related to various side effects including irreversible sensor neural hearing loss [14], gastrointestinal symptoms (such as dyspepsia, gastrointestinal bleeds, or even gastrointestinal perforations) [15], and side effects on cartilage metabolism. These drugs are related to various side effects including irreversible sensor neural hearing loss [14], gastrointestinal symptoms (such as dyspepsia, gastrointestinal bleeds, or even gastrointestinal perforations) [15], and side effects on cartilage metabolism. [16]
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