Network pharmacology assessment of Qingkailing injection treatment of cholestatic hepatitis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the targets and mechanisms of action of Qingkailing injection (，QKL) in the treatment of cholestatic hepatitis. METHODS: A network pharmacology method was implemented using drug and disease databases to target QKL and cholestasis hepatitis, respectively. The functional protein association network STRING database was used to construct a protein-protein interaction network using R language and the Bioconductor toolkit. The org.Hs.eg.db and clusterProfiler packages were used for gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis, which explored biological functions and pathways of potential targets. Targets were then visualized using Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. RESULTS: We screened 121 compounds in QKL and identified 112 targets for the treatment of cholestatic hepatitis. QKL played a role in the treatment of cholestatic hepatitis through 305 biology process terms, 15 cellular component and 29 molecular function terms. The mechanism of QKL action was mainly related to tumor necrosis factor, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. CONCLUSION: The treatment of cholestatic hepatitis by QKL involved multiple targets, biological functions, and signaling pathways that are closely associated with the disease.

Network Pharmacology-Based Approach to Revealing Biological Mechanisms of Qingkailing Injection against IschemicStroke: Focusing on Blood-Brain Barrier.

Ischemic stroke is the most common type of cerebrovascular accident worldwide. It causes long-term disability and death. Qingkailing (QKL) injection is a traditional Chinese patent medicine which has been clinically applied in the treatment of ischemic stroke for nearly thirty years. In the present study, network pharmacology combined with experimentation was used to elucidate the mechanisms of QKL. ADME screening and target prediction identified 62 active compounds and 275 targets for QKL. Topological screening of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was used to build a core PPI network consisting of 408 nodes and 17,830 edges. KEGG enrichment indicated that the main signaling pathway implicated in ischemic stroke involved hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). Experimentation showed that QKL alleviated neurological deficits, brain infraction, blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage, and tight junction degeneration in a mouse ischemic stroke model. Two-photon laser scanning microscopy was used to evaluate BBB permeability and cerebral microvessel structure in living mice. HIF-1α, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and tight junction proteins such as occludin, zonula occludins-1 (ZO-1), claudin-5, and VE-Cadherin were measured by western blotting. QKL upregulated ZO-1 and downregulated HIF-1α and MMP-9. QKL has a multiapproach, multitarget, and synergistic effect against ischemic stroke.

Qingkailing injection ameliorates cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and modulates the AMPK/NLRP3 Inflammasome Signalling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemia is the second-leading cause of death and the main cause of permanent adult disabilities worldwide. Qingkailing (QKL) injection, a patented Chinese medicine approved by the China Food and Drug Administration, has been widely used in clinical practice to treat cerebral ischemia in China. The NOD-like receptor pyrin 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is activated in cerebral ischemia and thus, is an effective therapeutic target. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important regulator inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation. METHODS: We investigated the potential of QKL injection to provide neuroprotection after cerebral ischemia in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (210-230 g) were randomly divided into three groups which consist of sham, MCAO and 3 ml/kg QKL. Rats in the QKL group received intraperitoneal injections of 3 ml/kg QKL, while rats in other groups were given saline in the same volumes. After 90 min ischemia and 24 h reperfusion, neurological function, laser speckle imaging, brain infarction, brain water content and brain blood barrier permeability were examined and cell apoptosis at prefrontal cortex were evaluated 24 h after MCAO, and western blot and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was also researched, respectively. RESULTS: Intraperitoneal administration of QKL alleviated neurological deficiencies, cerebral infarction, blood-brain barrier permeability, brain oedema and brain cell apoptosis after MCAO induction. QKL decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß, and increased anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-4 and IL-10. Furthermore, QKL activated phosphorylated AMPK, decreased oxidative stress and decreased NLRP3 inflammasome activation. CONCLUSIONS: QKL relieved cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury and suppressed the inflammatory response by inhibiting AMPK-mediated activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. These results suggest that QKL might have potential in treating brain inflammatory response and attenuating the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Corrigendum to "Systematic Understanding of the Mechanism of Baicalin against Ischemic Stroke through a Network Pharmacology Approach".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2018/2582843.].

Network Pharmacology and Bioinformatics Approach Reveals the Therapeutic Mechanism of Action of Baicalein in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Liver cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for the greatest proportion of these deaths. Baicalein, a flavonoid isolated from the root of Scutellariae radix, is considered a potential candidate to treat HCC. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the present study, a network pharmacological approach was combined with microarray data (GSE95504) acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus database to reveal the therapeutic mechanisms of action of baicalein at a systemic level. We identified 38 baicalein targets and 76 differently expressed genes (DEGs) following treatment with baicalein, including 55 upregulated and 21 downregulated genes. The DEGs were significantly enriched in the biological functions of apoptosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and PERK-mediated unfolded protein response. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction and topological screening revealed a core module of PPIs including two baicalein targets, TP53 and CDK1, and two downregulated DEGs, HSPA1A and HSPA1B. Expression and survival data for these genes in the module derived from Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) were subjected to Kaplan-Meier analysis of overall survival and disease-free survival. Overexpression of CDK1, BRCA1, TUBB, HSPA1A, HSPA1B, and HSPA4 was associated with significantly worse overall survival, while overexpression of CDK1, CLU7, BRCA1, and TUBB was associated with significantly worse disease-free survival. These data suggest that baicalein exerts therapeutic effects against HCC via a PPI network involving TP53, CDK1, HSPA1A, and HSPA1B.

Systematic Understanding of the Mechanism of Baicalin against Ischemic Stroke through a Network Pharmacology Approach.

Ischemic stroke is accompanied by high mortality and morbidity rates. At present, there is no effective clinical treatment. Alternatively, traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used in China and Japan for the treatment of ischemic stroke. Baicalin is a flavonoid extracted from Scutellaria baicalensis that has been shown to be effective against ischemic stroke; however, its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Based on network pharmacology, we explored the potential mechanism of baicalin on a system level. After obtaining baicalin structural information from the PubChem database, an approach combined with literature mining and PharmMapper prediction was used to uncover baicalin targets. Ischemic stroke-related targets were gathered with the help of DrugBank, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Genetic Association Database (GAD), and Therapeutic Target Database (TTD). Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed through the Cytoscape plugin BisoGenet and analyzed by topological methods. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment were carried out via the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) server. We obtained a total of 386 potential targets and 5 signaling pathways, including mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT), hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), and forkhead box (FOXO) signaling pathways. GO analysis showed that these targets were associated with antiapoptosis, antioxidative stress, anti-inflammation, and other physiopathological processes that are involved in anti-ischemic stroke effects. In summary, the mechanism of baicalin against ischemic stroke involved multiple targets and signaling pathways. Our study provides a network pharmacology framework for future research on traditional Chinese medicine.