Abstract
Background Being a traditional Chinese medicine, Geranium wilfordii Maxim (GWM) is used for the treatment of various infectious diseases, and its main active ingredients are the polyphenolic substances such as polyphenols quercetin, corilagin, and geraniin. Previous studies have demonstrated the anti-HSV-1 viral activity of these three main ingredients. Through employing a network pharmacological method, the authors of the present research intend to probe the mechanism of GWM for the therapeutic treatment of HSV-2 infection. Methods The bioactive substances and related targets of GWM were obtained from the TCMSP database. Gene expression discrepancy for HSV-2 infection was obtained from dataset GSE18527. Crossover genes between disease target genes and GWM target genes were gained via Circos package. Distinctively displayed genes (DDGs) during HSV-2 infection were uploaded to the Metascape database with GWM target genes for further analysis. The tissue-specific distribution of the genes was obtained by uploading the genes to the PaGenBase database. Ingredient-gene-pathway (IGP) networks were constructed using Cytoscape software. Molecular docking investigations were carried out utilizing AutoDock Vina software. Results Nine actively involved components were retrieved from the TCMSP database. After taking the intersection among 153 drug target genes and 83 DDGs, 7 crossover genes were screened. Gene enrichment analysis showed that GWM treatment of HSV-2 infection mainly involves cytokine signaling in the immune system, response to virus, epithelial cell differentiation, and type II interferon signaling (IFNG). One hub, three core objectives, and two critical paths were filtered out from the built network. Geraniin showed strong binding activity with HSV-2 gD protein and STING protein in molecular docking. Conclusions This network pharmacological study provides a fundamental molecular mechanistic exploration of GWM for the treatment of HSV-2 infection.
Highlights
Genital herpes is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and represents a major health problem globally [1].HSV-2 frequently modulates the cytokine milieu of the microenvironment in favor of HIV-1 spread [2]. e available antiviral agents used in HSV-2 infections are those that are clinically approved for the general treatment of HSV-2 infections, such as acyclovir and famciclovir
Nine Geranium wilfordii Maxim (GWM) bioactive chemicals were obtained in the TCMSP database, containing ellagic acid, sitosterol, kaempferol, furosin, ethyl brevifolincarboxylate, luteolin, quercetin, dehydrogeraniin, and corilagin
We downloaded the two-dimensional structure of the chemicals in PubChem website (Table 1). 309 drug targets were acquired in the TCMSP website and converted to target genes in the UniProt website. 153 target genes were isolated as drug-targeting genes after deleting repetitions
Summary
Genital herpes is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and represents a major health problem globally [1].HSV-2 frequently modulates the cytokine milieu of the microenvironment in favor of HIV-1 spread [2]. e available antiviral agents used in HSV-2 infections are those that are clinically approved for the general treatment of HSV-2 infections, such as acyclovir and famciclovir. Being a traditional Chinese medicine, Geranium wilfordii Maxim (GWM) is used for the treatment of various infectious diseases, and its main active ingredients are the polyphenolic substances such as polyphenols quercetin, corilagin, and geraniin. Rough employing a network pharmacological method, the authors of the present research intend to probe the mechanism of GWM for the therapeutic treatment of HSV-2 infection. Displayed genes (DDGs) during HSV-2 infection were uploaded to the Metascape database with GWM target genes for further analysis. Gene enrichment analysis showed that GWM treatment of HSV2 infection mainly involves cytokine signaling in the immune system, response to virus, epithelial cell differentiation, and type II interferon signaling (IFNG). Is network pharmacological study provides a fundamental molecular mechanistic exploration of GWM for the treatment of HSV2 infection Conclusions. is network pharmacological study provides a fundamental molecular mechanistic exploration of GWM for the treatment of HSV2 infection
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