Integrating network pharmacology and experimental validation to explore the mechanism of Yiqi Ziyin in treating immune thrombocytopenia.

To investigate the mechanism and potential targets of Yiqi Ziyin (YQZY) for treating immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Prednisone and YQZY were orally administered to ITP mice. Post-treatment, blood samples were taken to evaluate the blood picture. The spleen was obtained to observe histomorphological changes and calculate the spleen index. The active components and predicted related targets of YQZY were obtained based on the TCMSP database. The ITP-related targets were screened by GeneCards and DisGeNET databases. Then, functional enrichment analyses were conducted to examine the potential regulatory pathways of YQZY in ITP, which was validated by western blot assay. Additionally, three different networks were constructed to identify the predominant targets and ingredients of YQZY in the ITP treatment, followed by molecular docking analysis. YQZY significantly upregulated platelet counts and improved the other blood index abnormalities caused by anti-platelet serum injection. Totally 60 active ingredients were acquired, and 85 common targets of active ingredients and ITP. The PI3K-Akt pathway was the consistent pathway of functional enrichment analyses. Western blot assay showed that the protein levels in the prednisone + YQZY group had a tendency to the normal group. Finally, CASP3 and TNF were identified as the core targets that had strong binding to the active ingredients. YQZY might be a potential alternative approach in treating ITP through the PI3K-Akt pathway.