Systems Study on the Antirheumatic Mechanism of Tibetan Medicated-Bath Therapy Using Wuwei-Ganlu-Yaoyu-Keli

Tianhong Wang,Jing Wang,Jian Yang,Xing Chen,Yi Zhang,Jing Zhao,Kehui Zhao,Yang Ga

doi:10.1155/2017/2320932

Abstract

In clinical practice at Tibetan area of China, Traditional Tibetan Medicine formula Wuwei-Ganlu-Yaoyu-Keli (WGYK) is commonly added in warm water of bath therapy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, its mechanism of action is not well interpreted yet. In this paper, we first verify WGYK's anti-RA effect by an animal experiment. Then, based on gene expression data from microarray experiments, we apply approaches of network pharmacology to further reveal the mechanism of action for WGYK to treat RA by analyzing protein-protein interactions and pathways. This study may facilitate our understanding of anti-RA effect of WGYK from perspective of network pharmacology.

Highlights

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, which primarily attacks the synovial joints and leads to the destruction of the cartilage and bone
(1) The rats were randomly divided into seven groups, each of which included ten animals, that is, control group (C), adjuvant arthritis group (AA), dexamethasone acetate group (DMA), Qing Peng ointment group (QPO), low dose Wuwei-Ganlu-YaoyuKeli group (WGYKl), moderate dose Wuwei-GanluYaoyu-Keli group (WGYKm), and high dose WuweiGanlu-Yaoyu-Keli group (WGYKh)
We found that the foot volumes of the control rats were at a stable level during the experimental period; the foot volumes of the rats in the Adjuvant arthritis (AA), DMA, WGYKh, WGYKm, WGYKl, and QPO groups reached peak values about 2 weeks after adjuvant injection

Summary

Introduction

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, which primarily attacks the synovial joints and leads to the destruction of the cartilage and bone. It can affect multiple organs throughout the body [1]. We conducted a systems study to explore the anti-RA mechanism of Tibetan medicated-bath therapy using Wuwei-Ganlu-Yaoyu-Keli (WGYK) as compared with oral medicine dexamethasone acetate (DMA) and topical creams Qing Peng ointment (QPO) used clinically in the treatment of RA [4, 5]. We checked the overlaps between the pathways or subnetworks to deduce the effects of the drugs on the disease

Materials and Methods

Microarray Experiment and Significantly Expressed Genes

Results and Discussion

C AA DMA WGYKl

Conclusions

Conflicts of Interest