Abstract
Background Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a devastating lung disease, resulting in gas exchange dysfunction until death. The two drugs approved by the FDA, pirfenidone and nintedanib, have obvious side effects. Wen-yu-jin (WYJ), one of the commonly used herbs in China, can treat respiratory diseases. The potential effects and the underlying mechanism of WYJ against PF are unclear. Purpose Employing network pharmacology, molecular docking, and in vivo and in vitro experiments to explore the potential effects and underlying mechanisms of WYJ in the treatment of PF. Methods Ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography combined with linear ion trap-orbital tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-orbital trap) was used to identify compounds of WYJ. We got PF-related targets and WYJ compounds-related targets from public databases and further completed critical targets exploration, network construction, and pathway analysis by network pharmacology. Molecular docking predicted binding activity of WYJ compounds and critical targets. Based on the above results, in vivo and in vitro experiments validated the potential effects and mechanisms of WYJ against PF. Results 23 major compositions of WYJ were identified based on UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap. According to the results of network pharmacology, STAT3, SRC, IL6, MAPK1, AKT1, EGFR, MAPK8, MAPK14, and IL1B are critical therapeutic targets. Molecular docking results showed that most of the compounds have good binding activities with critical targets. The results of in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that WYJ alleviated the process of fibrosis by targeting MAPK and STAT3 pathways. Conclusion Network pharmacology, molecular docking, and in vivo and in vitro experiments showed the potential effects and mechanisms of WYJ against PF, which provides a theoretical basis for the treatment of WYJ with PF.
Highlights
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) characterized by progressive dyspnea with respiratory failure [1,2,3] is an irreversible lung disease [4]
Based on the network pharmacology methods above, 436 WYJ-related targets were obtained from SwissTargetPrediction and TCMSP after removing duplicate items
Reducing the expression of profibrotic factors and the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) is extremely important for alleviating PF
Summary
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) characterized by progressive dyspnea with respiratory failure [1,2,3] is an irreversible lung disease [4]. Pirfenidone and nintedanib [11], approved by FDA, are the only two effective drugs for clinical PF medical therapies These drugs can only delay the disease’s progression and maintain lung function but cannot cure the disease [12, 13]. Molecular docking, and in vivo and in vitro experiments to explore the potential effects and underlying mechanisms of WYJ in the treatment of PF. Based on the above results, in vivo and in vitro experiments validated the potential effects and mechanisms of WYJ against PF. Molecular docking, and in vivo and in vitro experiments showed the potential effects and mechanisms of WYJ against PF, which provides a theoretical basis for the treatment of WYJ with PF
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