Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China.
Department of Pharmacy, Henan Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, Henan Province, China.
J Healthc Eng. 2022 Mar 15;2022:9248674. doi: 10.1155/2022/9248674. eCollection 2022.
The first reported case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Thereafter, it spread through China and worldwide in only a few months, reaching a pandemic level. It can cause severe respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and lung failure. Since the onset of the disease, the rapid response and intervention of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have played a significant role in the effective control of the epidemic. Yinqiaosan (YQS) was used to treat COVID-19 pneumonia, with good curative effects. However, a systematic overview of its active compounds and the therapeutic mechanisms underlying its action has yet to be performed. The purpose of the current study is to explore the compounds and mechanism of YQS in treating COVID-19 pneumonia using system pharmacology. A system pharmacology method involving drug-likeness assessment, oral bioavailability forecasting, virtual docking, and network analysis was applied to estimate the active compounds, hub targets, and key pathways of YQS in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. With this method, 117 active compounds were successfully identified in YQS, and 77 potential targets were obtained from the targets of 95 compounds and COVID-19 pneumonia. The results show that YQS may act in treating COVID-19 pneumonia and its complications (atherosclerosis and nephropathy) through Kaposi sarcoma-related herpesvirus infection and the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications and pathways in cancer. We distinguished the hub molecular targets within pathways such as TNF, GAPDH, MAPK3, MAPK1, EGFR, CASP3, MAPK8, mTOR, IL-2, and MAPK14. Five of the more highly active compounds (acacetin, kaempferol, luteolin, naringenin, and quercetin) have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties. In summary, by introducing a systematic network pharmacology method, our research perfectly forecasts the active compounds, potential targets, and key pathways of YQS applied to COVID-19 and helps to comprehensively clarify its mechanism of action.
首例 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）病例发生在中国湖北武汉。此后，它在短短几个月内迅速传播到中国和世界各地，达到了大流行的程度。它可引起严重的呼吸道疾病，如肺炎和呼吸衰竭。自疾病爆发以来，中医药（TCM）的快速反应和干预在有效控制疫情方面发挥了重要作用。银翘散（YQS）用于治疗 COVID-19 肺炎，疗效良好。然而，其作用的活性化合物和治疗机制尚未进行系统综述。本研究旨在采用系统药理学方法探讨 YQS 治疗 COVID-19 肺炎的活性化合物和作用机制。采用药物相似性评估、口服生物利用度预测、虚拟对接和网络分析的系统药理学方法，估算 YQS 治疗 COVID-19 肺炎的活性化合物、关键靶标和关键途径。通过该方法，成功鉴定出 YQS 中的 117 种活性化合物，并从 95 种化合物和 COVID-19 肺炎的靶标中获得 77 个潜在靶标。结果表明，YQS 可能通过卡波西肉瘤相关疱疹病毒感染和糖尿病并发症中的 AGE-RAGE 信号通路以及癌症中的途径来治疗 COVID-19 肺炎及其并发症（动脉粥样硬化和肾病）。我们区分了途径中的关键分子靶标，如 TNF、GAPDH、MAPK3、MAPK1、EGFR、CASP3、MAPK8、mTOR、IL-2 和 MAPK14。五种更具活性的化合物（芹菜素、山奈酚、木樨草素、柚皮苷和槲皮素）具有抗炎和抗氧化作用。总之，通过引入系统网络药理学方法，我们的研究完美预测了 YQS 治疗 COVID-19 的活性化合物、潜在靶标和关键途径，并有助于全面阐明其作用机制。
