An Exploration on Mechanisms of Treating Different Diseases with Same Method of Qinggan Huayu Granules in Treating NAFLD and Liver Cancer Based on Network Pharmacology / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To reveal the effective components， targets and possible mechanisms of Qinggan Huayu granules in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） and liver cancer based on network pharmacology and experimental verification， and to provide a basis for its rational interpretation of treating different diseases with same method for NAFLD and liver cancer. Method:Based on databases of traditional Chinese medicine and disease， the network pharmacology was used to screen main active compounds and potential targets of Qinggan Huayu granules for NAFLD and liver cancer. STRING 11.0 was used to analyze the interaction between potential targets. The core targets were selected from the interaction targets by cytoHubba plug-in. The gene ontology （GO） function and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the target by Metascape database. At the same time， <italic>in vitro</italic> experiments were conducted to validate the effect of kaempferol， one of the main active ingredients of Qinggan Huayu granules， on hepatocellular carcinoma cell model and NAFLD cell model. Result:A total of 43 potential targets of Qinggan Huayu granules for for NAFLD and liver cancer were screened， corresponding to 136 active ingredients in 8 herbal medicines. Through enrichment analysis of potential targets， there were 20 biological processes， 13 molecular functions， 9 cellular components and 15 signaling pathways. Qinggan Huayu granules regulated biological behaviors of tumors related to liver cancer and NAFLD （such as apoptosis inhibition and oxidative stress） mainly through kaempferol， quercetin， luteolin and other active ingredients for Caspase-3 （CASP3）， tumor protein p53 （TP53）， vascular endothelial growth factor A （VEGFA） and other hub genes. <italic>In vitro</italic> experiments revealed that kaempferol could inhibit cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner in hepatocellular carcinoma cell model. And kaempferol could modulate the levels of malondialdehyde （MDA） and glutathione peroxidase （GPx）， which were the molecular markers of oxidative stress of NAFLD cell model. Kaempfero also regulated the expression level of CASP3 in hepatocellular carcinoma cell model and NAFLD cell model. Conclusion:The main mechanism of Qinggan Huayu granules in treating liver cancer and NAFLD with concept of treating different diseases with same method is related to systematic synergy effect of multiple compounds （represented by quercetin， luteolin and kaempferol）， multiple targets （represented by VEGFA， TP53 and CASP3） and multiple signaling pathways （represented by oxidative stress and cell apoptosis）.

Screening of 10 types of Chinese herbal compounds inhibiting Abeta and their possible related mechanism in vitro / 药学学报

This study is to screen the Chinese herbal compounds which could inhibit the production of Abeta and investigate the underlying mechanism. Ten types of compounds which have potential value in the treatment of AD were selected as initial screening trial. The cell models which used could overexpress Abeta and beta-secretases or Abeta and gamma-secretases. Extracellular Abeta was determined by ELISA after the cell models treated with different concentrations of compounds (0.5-100 micromol x L(-1)), separately. Then the compounds were selected which could inhibit extracellular Abeta and their best concentration ranges were decided, too. Furthermore, the cell viability and apoptosis rate, the level of intracellular Abeta, beta and gamma-secretases were determined after the cell models treated with different concentrations of selected compounds. The results showed that 4 of the 10 compounds could reduce the level of extracellular Abeta; they were cryptotanshinone, astragalosides, gastrodin and paeoniflorin, and their best concentration ranges were 0.5-5.0, 0.5-5.0, 5.0-50, 1.0-25 micromol x L(-1), respectively. Further study indicated that the 4 selected compounds were nontoxic to the cellular models and lowering intracellular Abeta were more effective compared with extracellular; of which astragalosides and gastrodin showed dose-dependent inhibition to the activities of beta and gamma-secretases, with the maximum inhibiting rates of 78.2% and 80.3%, respectively. In conclusion, cryptotanshinone, astragalosides, gastrodin and paeoniflorin could inhibit the expression and secretion of Abeta, and the underlying inhibiting mechanism of astragalosides and gastrodin were related with the reduction of the beta and gamma-secretase activities, respectively.

Screening of 10 types of Chinese herbal compounds inhibiting Abeta and their possible related mechanism in vitro / 药学学报

This study is to screen the Chinese herbal compounds which could inhibit the production of Abeta and investigate the underlying mechanism. Ten types of compounds which have potential value in the treatment of AD were selected as initial screening trial. The cell models which used could overexpress Abeta and beta-secretases or Abeta and gamma-secretases. Extracellular Abeta was determined by ELISA after the cell models treated with different concentrations of compounds (0.5-100 micromol x L(-1)), separately. Then the compounds were selected which could inhibit extracellular Abeta and their best concentration ranges were decided, too. Furthermore, the cell viability and apoptosis rate, the level of intracellular Abeta, beta and gamma-secretases were determined after the cell models treated with different concentrations of selected compounds. The results showed that 4 of the 10 compounds could reduce the level of extracellular Abeta; they were cryptotanshinone, astragalosides, gastrodin and paeoniflorin, and their best concentration ranges were 0.5-5.0, 0.5-5.0, 5.0-50, 1.0-25 micromol x L(-1), respectively. Further study indicated that the 4 selected compounds were nontoxic to the cellular models and lowering intracellular Abeta were more effective compared with extracellular; of which astragalosides and gastrodin showed dose-dependent inhibition to the activities of beta and gamma-secretases, with the maximum inhibiting rates of 78.2% and 80.3%, respectively. In conclusion, cryptotanshinone, astragalosides, gastrodin and paeoniflorin could inhibit the expression and secretion of Abeta, and the underlying inhibiting mechanism of astragalosides and gastrodin were related with the reduction of the beta and gamma-secretase activities, respectively.