Li Zheng, Chen Hongwei, Zhang Huixia, Li Yan, Wang Caiyun, Bai Liping, Zhang Wei, Jiang Zhihong
College of Health Sciences, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China.
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines and Macau Institute for Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa 999078, Macau, China.
ACS Omega. 2020 Nov 18;5(47):30519-30530. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c04377. eCollection 2020 Dec 1.
The pathogenesis similarity is leading to the introduction of drugs commonly used in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) into coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was widely used for the treatment of infectious diseases and rheumatic diseases. However, there is little knowledge of the relationship between COVID-19 and RA treatment employing TCM formulas. The present work was aimed to compare the similarity and specificity of TCM formulas for the management of COVID-19 and RA, as well as to deduce the potential mechanism of TCM for COVID-19 treatment. Two formulas including lianhuaqingwen (LHQW) and duhuojisheng (DHJS) were selected as the representatives of TCM for COVID-19 and RA treatment, respectively. An integrated network pharmacology was used to investigate their similarity and specificity. Although different herbs are present in the two formulas, they generated fairly similar ingredients, targets, interaction networks and enriched pathways, which were mainly involved in virus infection, inflammation, and immune dysregulation. Undoubtedly, they also exhibited their respective specificity. LHQW showed the cold property and lung channel tropism which dominated heat-clearing and lung-freeing, while DHJS showed the warm property and liver channel tropism. Herbal compatibility of LHQW was more in line with the rules of the TCM formula against coronavirus disease. Although both formulas suggested multifunctionality in virus infection and inflammation, LHQW was inclined to cope with virus infection, while DHJS was inclined to cope with inflammation. Therefore, LHQW was reliable for providing the desired efficacy in COVID-19 management because of its cold property, lung channel tropism, and multifunctionality for coping with virus infection and inflammation.
发病机制的相似性促使类风湿关节炎（RA）常用药物被引入新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）的治疗中。中药被广泛用于治疗传染病和风湿性疾病。然而，对于COVID-19与运用中药方剂治疗RA之间的关系却知之甚少。本研究旨在比较用于治疗COVID-19和RA的中药方剂的异同，以及推断中药治疗COVID-19的潜在机制。分别选取连花清瘟（LHQW）和独活寄生（DHJS）这两个方剂作为治疗COVID-19和RA的中药代表。采用综合网络药理学研究它们的异同。尽管两个方剂中的草药不同，但它们产生的成分、靶点、相互作用网络和富集通路相当相似，主要涉及病毒感染、炎症和免疫失调。毫无疑问，它们也表现出各自的特异性。LHQW性寒凉，归肺经，以清热宣肺为主，而DHJS性温热，归肝经。LHQW的组方配伍更符合针对新型冠状病毒肺炎的中药方剂规律。尽管两个方剂在病毒感染和炎症方面均显示出多功能性，但LHQW倾向于应对病毒感染，而DHJS倾向于应对炎症。因此，LHQW因其寒凉之性、归肺经以及应对病毒感染和炎症的多功能性，在COVID-19治疗中有望提供理想疗效。
