Pharmacological target and the biological mechanism of gallic acid for anticataract effect: A network analysis

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to identify the pharmacological targets and mechanisms of action of the traditional Indian plant, Saraca asoca bioactive, gallic acid, in the treatment of cataract using bioinformatics tools i.e., network pharmacology. Material/MethodsTargets of cataract were obtained by using DisGeNET gene discovery web-based database. The herbal ingredients target (HIT), the SuperPred, and the SwissTargetPrediction database were used for compound target prediction i.e., targets of gallic acid. Pathophysiological and therapeutic targets were imported to the STRING database, and the Cytoscape network integration software was used to construct component-target and disease-target interaction networks as a part of protein-protein interaction (PPI). Core targets were identified by network topological parameters and were further tested to identify the biological process and the signaling pathways by using functional enrichment analysis tool, FunRich. ResultsKey targets genes for gallic acid in the treatment of patients with cataract were identified, including indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1), serum albumin (ALB), estrogen receptor (ESR1), prostaglandin G/H synthase-2 (PTGS2), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (SERPINE1), aromatase (CYP19A1), neutrophil elastase (ELANE), and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), apoptosis regulator (BCL2), carbonic anhydrase-4 (CA4), tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO (AXL), tyrosinase (TYR), kallikrein-7 (KLK7), and serine/threonine-protein kinase (NEK2). The signaling pathways of core targets mainly involved signaling events mediated by BMP receptors, integrins, proteoglycan syndecan, glypican, TRAIL, S1P (sphingosine-1-phosphate), LKB1, endothelins, VEGF, VEGFR, estrogen receptors, INF-γ, IL-5, mTOR, biological oxidation, kynurenines formation, TGF-β, etc. ConclusionPharmacological network analysis was used to identify the gene targets and mechanisms of gallic acid for the treatment of patient with cataract.