Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China.
Xiangtan County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiangtan, China.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Nov 25;101(47):e31969. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000031969.
To explore the mechanism of Epimedii Folium (HF) and Notoginseng Radix (NR) intervention in vascular dementia (VD). This study used the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database to collect the active ingredients and potential drug targets of HF and NR, the Uniprot database to convert drug target names into gene names, GeneCards, Drugbank, Therapeutic Target Database, and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database to collect the potential disease targets of VD, and then combined them with the drug targets to construct the HF-NR-VD protein-protein interaction (PPI) network by Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting (STRING). Cytoscape (version 3.7.1) was used to perform cluster analysis of the PPI network. Metascape database was used for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. The potential interaction of the main components of the HF-NR couplet medicine with core disease targets was revealed by molecular docking simulations. There were 23 predicted active ingredients in HF and NR, and 109 common drug targets that may be involved in the treatment of VD. Through PPI network analysis, 30 proteins were identified as core proteins owing to their topological importance. GO functional analysis revealed that the primary biological processes were mainly related to inflammation, apoptosis, and the response to oxidative stress. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that TNF and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways may occupy the core status in the anti-VD system. Molecular docking results confirmed that the core targets of VD had a high affinity for the main compounds of the HF-NR couplet medicine. We demonstrated the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway characteristics of HF-NR couplet medicine for the treatment of VD and provided a foundation for further clinical application and experimental research.
探讨淫羊藿（HF）和三七（NR）干预血管性痴呆（VD）的作用机制。本研究采用中药系统药理学（TCMSP）数据库收集 HF 和 NR 的活性成分和潜在药物靶点，使用 Uniprot 数据库将药物靶点名称转换为基因名称，利用 GeneCards、Drugbank、Therapeutic Target Database 和 Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man 数据库收集 VD 的潜在疾病靶点，然后将这些靶点与药物靶点结合起来，通过 Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting（STRING）构建 HF-NR-VD 蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络。使用 Cytoscape（版本 3.7.1）对 PPI 网络进行聚类分析。使用 Metascape 数据库进行基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析。通过分子对接模拟揭示 HF-NR 药对主要成分与核心疾病靶点的潜在相互作用。HF 和 NR 中预测有 23 个活性成分，有 109 个共同的药物靶点可能参与 VD 的治疗。通过 PPI 网络分析，有 30 个蛋白质由于其拓扑重要性被鉴定为核心蛋白。GO 功能分析显示，主要的生物学过程主要与炎症、凋亡和氧化应激反应有关。KEGG 通路富集分析表明，TNF 和 PI3K/Akt 信号通路可能在抗 VD 系统中占据核心地位。分子对接结果证实，VD 的核心靶点与 HF-NR 药对的主要化合物具有很高的亲和力。本研究表明 HF-NR 药对治疗 VD 具有多成分、多靶点、多途径的特点，为进一步的临床应用和实验研究提供了基础。
