Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2022; 10(22): 7674-7685
Published online Aug 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i22.7674
Network pharmacology and molecular docking reveal zedoary turmeric-trisomes in Inflammatory bowel disease with intestinal fibrosis
Lie Zheng, Yong-Yi Ji, Yan-Cheng Dai, Xin-Li Wen, Shi-Cheng Wu
Lie Zheng, Department of Gastroenterology, Shaanxi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shaanxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xi’an 730000, Shaanxi Province, China
Yong-Yi Ji, Department of Neurology, Xi’an Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xi’an 710021, Shaanxi Province, China
Yan-Cheng Dai, Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Integrated Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200082, China
Xin-Li Wen, Department of Gastroenterology, Shaanxi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xi’an 710003, Shaanxi Province, China
Shi-Cheng Wu, Department of Proctology, Gansu Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, GanSu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China
Author contributions: Zheng L, Ji YY, Dai YC and Wu SC reviewed the literature and prepared the manuscript, performed to the writing and revising of the manuscript; Zheng L and Wen XL contributed to design this work, and performed overall supervision; Zheng L wrote and revised the paper; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Supported by General Research of Xi’an Science and Technology Planning Project, No. 2022JH-YBYJ-0265; Shaanxi Province Natural Science Basic Research Program-General Project, No: 2019JM-580 and 2021SF-314; Project of Shaanxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2019-ZZ-JC010; and Shaanxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2021-07, 2018-04.
Institutional review board statement: Since this article is a molecular mechanism study of network pharmacology and does not involve animal experiments or clinical experiments, it does not require the approval of an ethics committee.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflict of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
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: Shi-Cheng Wu, Department of Proctology, Gansu Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Gansu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 418 Guazhou Road, Qilihe District, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China. 594068860@qq.com
Received: March 16, 2022
Peer-review started: March 16, 2022
First decision: April 11, 2022
Revised: May 5, 2022
Accepted: June 30, 2022
Article in press: June 30, 2022
Published online: August 6, 2022
Processing time: 127 Days and 20.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex chronic IBD that is closely associated with risk factors such as environment, diet, medications and lifestyle that may influence the host microbiome or immune response to antigens. At present, with the increasing incidence of IBD worldwide, it is of great significance to further study the pathogenesis of IBD and seek new therapeutic targets. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment of diseases is characterized by multiple approaches and multiple targets and has a long history of clinical application in China. The mechanism underlying the effect of zedoary turmeric-trisomes on inducing mucosal healing in IBD is not clear.

AIM

To explore the effective components and potential mechanism of zedoary turmeric-trisomes in the treatment of IBD with intestinal fibrosis using network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques.

METHODS

The chemical constituents and targets of Rhizoma zedoary and Rhizoma sanarum were screened using the TCMSP database. The GeneCards database was searched to identify targets associated with intestinal fibrosis in IBD. The intersection of chemical component targets and disease targets was obtained using the Venny 2.1 online analysis platform, and the common targets were imported into the STRING 11.0 database to construct a protein interaction regulatory network. A “zedoary turmeric-trisomes-chemical composition-target-disease” network diagram was subsequently constructed using Cytoscape 3.7.2 software, and the topological properties of the network were analyzed using the “Network Analysis” plug-in. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of the common targets were performed using the DAVID 6.8 database to elucidate the mechanism of zedoary turmeric-trisomes in the treatment of IBD. Subsequently, molecular docking of the compounds and targets with the highest intermediate values in the “zedoary turmeric-trisomes-chemical composition-target-disease” network was performed using Sybyl-x 2.1.1 software.

RESULTS

A total of 5 chemical components with 60 targets were identified, as well as 3153 targets related to IBD and 44 common targets. The protein-protein interaction network showed that the core therapeutic targets included JUN, MAPK14, CASP3, AR, and PTGS2. The GO enrichment analysis identified 759 items, and the KEGG enrichment analysis yielded 52 items, including the cancer pathway, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, hepatitis B, and the calcium signaling pathway, reflecting the complex biological processes of the multicomponent, multitarget and multipathway treatment of diseases with zedoary turmeric-trisomes. Molecular docking showed that the compound bonded with the target through hydrogen bond interactions and exhibited good docking activity.

CONCLUSION

This study identified the potential mechanism of action of zedoary turmeric-trisomes in the treatment of inflammatory bowel fibrosis using network pharmacology and molecular docking technology, providing a scientific basis for further expansion of their clinical use.

Keywords: Network pharmacology; Molecular docking; Zedoary turmeric trisomes; Inflammatory bowel disease; Intestinal fibrosis

Core Tip: Intestinal fibrosis is one of the common complications of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Finding effective drug treatment is an important issue that needs to be solved at the moment. The mechanism of zedoary turmeric-trisomes in the treatment of IBD with intestinal fibrosis can be predicted through network pharmacology and molecular docking, so as to provide theoretical reference for it to better play its therapeutic role.