Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 16, 2022; 10(20): 6900-6914
Published online Jul 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i20.6900
Network pharmacology-based strategy for predicting therapy targets of Sanqi and Huangjing in diabetes mellitus
Xiao-Yan Cui, Xiao Wu, Dan Lu, Dan Wang
Xiao-Yan Cui, Hebei Institute for Drug and Medical Device Control, Shijiazhuang 050011, Hebei Province, China
Xiao Wu, Department of Basic Medical, HE’s University, Shenyang 110163, Liaoning Province, China
Dan Lu, College of Clinical, HE’s University, Shenyang 110163, Liaoning Province, China
Dan Wang, College of Human Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang 110102, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Wang D and Lu D performed the writing and revising of the manuscript; Wu X and Cui XY contributed to the design of the work and performed overall supervision; Wang D wrote and revised the paper.
Supported by the Central Government guides local S&T Program of Hebei Province, No. 216Z2501G; and Scientific Research Project of Hebei Provincial Market Supervision Administration, No. 2021YJ11.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dan Wang, PhD, Teacher, College of Human Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, No. 36 Jinqiansong East Road Sujiatun District, Shenyang 110102, Liaoning Province, China. 595680903@qq.com
Received: December 28, 2021
Peer-review started: December 28, 2021
First decision: January 23, 2022
Revised: February 2, 2022
Accepted: April 15, 2022
Article in press: April 15, 2022
Published online: July 16, 2022
Processing time: 188 Days and 18.3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

A comprehensive literature search shows that Sanqi and Huangjing (SQHJ) can improve diabetes treatment in vivo and in vitro, respectively. However, the combined effects of SQHJ on diabetes mellitus (DM) are still unclear.

AIM

To explore the potential mechanism of Panax notoginseng (Sanqi in Chinese) and Polygonati Rhizoma (Huangjing in Chinese) for the treatment of DM using network pharmacology.

METHODS

The active components of SQHJ and targets were predicted and screened by network pharmacology through oral bioavailability and drug-likeness filtration using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Analysis Platform database. The potential targets for the treatment of DM were identified according to the DisGeNET database. A comparative analysis was performed to investigate the overlapping genes between active component targets and DM treatment-related targets. We constructed networks of the active component-target and target pathways of SQHJ using Cytoscape software and then analyzed the gene functions. Using the STRING database to perform an interaction analysis among overlapping genes and a topological analysis, the interactions between potential targets were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) function analyses and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses were conducted in DAVID.

RESULTS

We screened 18 active components from 157 SQHJ components, 187 potential targets for active components and 115 overlapping genes for active components and DM. The network pharmacology analysis revealed that quercetin, beta-sitosterol, baicalein, etc. were the major active components. The mechanism underlying the SQHJ intervention effects in DM may involve nine core targets (TP53, AKT1, CASP3, TNF, interleukin-6, PTGS2, MMP9, JUN, and MAPK1). The screening and enrichment analysis revealed that the treatment of DM using SQHJ primarily involved 16 GO enriched terms and 13 related pathways.

CONCLUSION

SQHJ treatment for DM targets TP53, AKT1, CASP3, and TNF and participates in pathways in leishmaniasis and cancer.

Keywords: Panax notoginseng (Sanqi in Chinese); Polygonati Rhizoma (Huangjing in Chinese); Diabetes mellitus; Active compounds; Network pharmacology; Hub genes

Core Tip: Due to the unsatisfactory therapeutic effects of monotherapy, combination therapy has become a preferred choice for diabetic patients. Two specific herbs are often used together for the treatment of some diseases, which is called a herb pair. Hence, we investigated the combined effects of Sanqi and Huangjing (SQHJ) on diabetes and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Network pharmacology is a new discipline based on the theory of systems biology, which analyzes the network of biological systems and selects specific signal nodes for multitarget drug molecular design 16. Therefore, we used network pharmacology to reveal the pharmacological mechanism of SQHJ in the treatment of diabetes from the following three aspects: active components, potential targets, and synthetic pathways.