A Chinese herbal formula Kesuting Syrup against COVID-19: Leveraging multidimensional computations in network pharmacology-driven experimental and clinical trials.
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SUBMITTER: Zhang C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10867594 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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A Chinese herbal formula Kesuting Syrup against COVID-19: Leveraging multidimensional computations in network pharmacology-driven experimental and clinical trials.
Zhang Cheng C Sun Tian-Tian TT Lv Ying Y Li Xing X Ling Yun Y Wang Ning N Xia Wen W Fan Xiaohong X Feng Yibin Y
Clinical and translational medicine 20240201 2
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Project description:BackgroundCoccidiosis represents a serious threat to the poultry industry, affecting production and causing high morbidity, mortality and significant costs resulting from treatment and prophylaxis. In-feed anticoccidials have been used for decades for managing avian coccidiosis and were very effective until drug resistance emerged. The use of natural remedies has become a promising alternative in combating coccidiosis in chickens. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess the efficiency of a commercial herbal formula (H), as oral liquid preparations, in experimental chicken coccidiosis.MethodsTwo independent controlled battery experiments (BE1 and BE2) were designed and the product was tested in 3 different formulas (H1, H2 and H3): H1 contained a propylene glycol extract of Allium sativum and Thymus serpyllum; H2 contained Origanum vulgare, Satureja hortensis and Chelidonium majus; and H3 contained Allium sativum, Urtica dioica, Inula helenium, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Rosmarinus officinalis, Chelidonium majus, Thymus serpyllum, Tanacetum vulgare and Coriandrum sativum. Chickens were divided into five groups for each BE as follows: (i) uninfected untreated control (UU1, UU2); (ii) infected untreated control (IU1, IU2); (iii) infected treated with amprolium (ITA1, ITA2); and (iv, v) two experimental groups infected treated with H1 (ITH1) and H2 (ITH2) formulas in the BE1 and with H3 (ITH3-5 and ITH3-10) formula in the BE2. The chickens from infected groups were challenged with 5000 (BE1) and 50,000 (BE2) sporulated oocysts of Eimeria spp. (E. acervulina, E. tenella and E. maxima), respectively. The anticoccidial efficacy was assessed by recording the following: oocysts output (OPG), lesion score (LS), weight gain (WG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and anticoccidial index (ACI). Additionally, polyphenolics and flavonoids (caffeic-chlorogenic acid, apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, quercitin, quercitrin) from herb extracts found in H3 formula were determined by the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method.ResultsH1 and H2 reduced the WG, and increased the FCR and OPG compared with controls. H1 reduced the duodenal lesions, whilst H2 reduced the caecal lesions, compared with control. H3 decreased the OPG of Eimeria spp., reduced the total lesion score and improved the zootechnical performance (weight gain and feed conversion ratio). According to ACI value, H1 and H2 had no efficacy on Eimeria spp. infection, but H3 had good to marked anticoccidial effect, the ACI being slightly greater in the group ITH3-5. According to the results of LC-MS/MS, the concentration of polyphenols in H3 formula was the highest, the sum of chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid being 914.9 µg/ml.ConclusionsH3 formula is a promising natural anticoccidial and field trials are recommended in order to validate the obtained data.
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Project description:BackgroundThis study aimed at determining the effect of the herbal mixture estrogen inhibition formula (EIF) and its possible mechanisms by precocious puberty animal models and network pharmacology-based analysis.MethodsPrecocious puberty animal models were established by a single injection of 300 μg danazol, then female rats were administered EIF, vaginal openings were monitored, uterus and pituitary indices were determined. The levels of ALP, E2, LH, and FSH were measured using ELISA kits. Real-time PCR was performed to evaluate the mRNA expression of GnRH, UNC5C, and netrin-1 in hypothalamic tissues. We applied network pharmacological analysis to predict potential targets and pathways of EIF.ResultsEIF delayed danazol-induced early vaginal opening. In the onset model, EIF reduced the increased levels of serum ALP, E2, LH, and FSH; as well as mRNA expressions of GnRH, Netrin-1, and UNC5C. Moreover, long-term administration of EIF not only diminished all impaired factors but also had no effect on the normal development of the animals. The gene set enrichment analysis showed that the targets of EIF are mainly associated with the GnRH signaling and ovarian steroidogenesis pathways.ConclusionEIF could be used in preclinical research for the treatment of precocious puberty by the inhibition of HPGA pre-maturation.
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Project description:Clinical studies have demonstrated the anti-psoriatic effect of the LiangXueJieDu (LXJD) herbal formula. However, the systemic mechanism and the targets of the LXJD formula have not yet been elucidated. In the present study, a systems pharmacology approach, metabolomics, and experimental evaluation were employed. First, by systematic absorption-distribution-metabolism-excretion (ADME) analysis, 144 active compounds with satisfactory pharmacokinetic properties were identified from 12 herbs of LXJD formula using the TCMSP database. These active compounds could be linked to 125 target proteins involved in the pathological processes underlying psoriasis. Then, the networks constituting the active compounds, targets, and diseases were constructed to decipher the pharmacological actions of this formula, indicating its curative effects in psoriasis treatment and related complications. The psoriasis-related pathway comprising several regulatory modules demonstrated the synergistic mechanisms of LXJD formula. Furthermore, the therapeutic effect of LXJD formula was validated in a psoriasis-like mouse model. Consistent with the systems pharmacology analysis, LXJD formula ameliorated IMQ-induced psoriasis-like lesions in mice, inhibited keratinocyte proliferation, improved keratinocyte differentiation, and suppressed the infiltration of CD3+ T cells. Compared to the model group, LXJD formula treatment remarkably reduced the expression of inflammatory cytokines and factors, such as IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, Cox2, and inhibited the phosphorylation of p-P65, p-IқB, p-ERK, p-P38, p-PI3K, p-AKT, indicating that LXJD formula exerts its therapeutic effect by inhibiting the MAPK, PI3K/AKT, and NF-қB signaling pathways. The metabolic changes in the serum of psoriasis patients were evaluated by liquid chromatography coupled with orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The LXJD formula improved two perturbed metabolic pathways of glycerophospholipid metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Overall, this study revealed the complicated anti-psoriatic mechanism of LXJD formula and also offered a reliable strategy to elucidate the complex therapeutic mechanism of this Chinese herbal formula in psoriasis from a holistic perspective.
| S-EPMC8217833 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Clinical studies and basic science experiments have widely demonstrated the antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of the herbal formula Xiao-Yao-San (XYS). However, the system mechanism of these effects has not been fully characterized. The present study conducted a comprehensive network pharmacological analysis of XYS and sorted all pharmacologically active components (149) through the TCMSP webserver. Then, all potential molecular targets (449) were predicted, of which there were 99 genes clearly related to depression. To further investigate the mechanism of antidepressant effects of XYS, a compound-depression targets (C-DTs) network was constructed, and Gene Ontology (GO) functional and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were performed for the 99 targets. Enrichment results revealed that XYS could regulate multiple aspects of depression through these targets, related to metabolism, neuroendocrine function, and neuroimmunity. Prediction and analysis of protein-protein interactions resulted in selection of three hub genes (AKT1, TP53, and VEGFA). In addition, a total of seven ingredients from XYS could act on these hub genes and they were identified through ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF-MS), including paeoniflorin, quercetin, luteolin, acacetin, aloe-emodin, Glyasperin C, kaempferol. Hereafter, we investigated the effects of paeoniflorin and its predicted target, the results suggest that it can reverse the neurotoxicity produced by CORT and could be a neuroprotective effect by promoting the phosphorylation of Akt. Overall, our research revealed the complicated antidepressant mechanism of XYS, and also provided a rational strategy for revealing the complex composition and function of Chinese herbal formula.
| S-EPMC7094752 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Banxia Baizhu Tianma Decoction (BXD) is a Chinese herbal formula that is widely used to treat hypertension in China. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and potential mechanism of BXD for hypertension by meta-analysis and network pharmacology. Meta-analysis was performed to explore the efficacy and safety of BXD combined with conventional treatment for hypertension. Network pharmacology was used to explore the molecular mechanism of BXD in antihypertension. A total of 23 studies involving 2,041 patients were included. Meta-analysis indicated that compared with conventional treatment, combined BXD treatment was beneficial to improve clinical efficacy rate, blood pressure, blood lipids, homocysteine, endothelial function, inflammation, and traditional Chinese medicine symptom score. In addition, meta-analysis indicated that BXD is safe and has no obvious adverse reactions. Network pharmacology showed that the antihypertensive targets of BXD may be AKT1, NOS3, ACE, and PPARG. The antihypertensive active ingredients of BXD may be naringenin, poricoic acid C, eburicoic acid, and licochalcone B. Due to the poor methodological quality of the Chinese studies and the small sample size of most, the analysis of this study may have been affected by bias. Therefore, the efficacy and safety of BXD for hypertension still need to be further verified by high-quality clinical studies. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42022353666.
| S-EPMC9755740 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The scientific understanding of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been hindered by the lack of methods that can explore the complex nature and combinatorial rules of herbal formulae. On the assumption that herbal ingredients mainly target a molecular network to adjust the imbalance of human body, here we present a-self-developed TCM network pharmacology platform for discovering herbal formulae in a systematic manner. This platform integrates a set of network-based methods that we established previously to catch the network regulation mechanism and to identify active ingredients as well as synergistic combinations for a given herbal formula. We then provided a case study on an antirheumatoid arthritis (RA) formula, Qing-Luo-Yin (QLY), to demonstrate the usability of the platform. We revealed the target network of QLY against RA-related key processes including angiogenesis, inflammatory response, and immune response, based on which we not only predicted active and synergistic ingredients from QLY but also interpreted the combinatorial rule of this formula. These findings are either verified by the literature evidence or have the potential to guide further experiments. Therefore, such a network pharmacology strategy and platform is expected to make the systematical study of herbal formulae achievable and to make the TCM drug discovery predictable.
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Project description:BackgroundQiShen YiQi pills (QSYQ) is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula, which has a significant effect on the treatment of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) in clinical practice. However, the molecular mechanism of QSYQ regulation pyroptosis after MI is still not fully known. Hence, this study was designed to reveal the mechanism of the active ingredient in QSYQ.MethodsIntegrated approach of network pharmacology and molecular docking, were conducted to screen active components and corresponding common target genes of QSYQ in intervening pyroptosis after MI. Subsequently, STRING and Cytoscape were applied to construct a PPI network, and obtain candidate active compounds. Molecular docking was performed to verify the binding ability of candidate components to pyroptosis proteins and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) induced cardiomyocytes injuries were applied to explore the protective effect and mechanism of the candidate drug.ResultsTwo drug-likeness compounds were preliminarily selected, and the binding capacity between Ginsenoside Rh2 (Rh2) and key target High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1)was validated in the form of hydrogen bonding. 2 μM Rh2 prevented OGD-induced H9c2 death and reduced IL-18 and IL-1β levels, possibly by decreasing the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, inhibiting the expression of p12-caspase1, and attenuating the level of pyroptosis executive protein GSDMD-N.ConclusionsWe propose that Rh2 of QSYQ can protect myocardial cells partially by ameliorating pyroptosis, which seems to have a new insight regarding the therapeutic potential for MI.
| S-EPMC10014185 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ban-Xia-Xie-Xin-Tang (BXXXT) is a classical formula from Shang-Han-Lun which is one of the earliest books of TCM clinical practice. In this work, we investigated the therapeutic mechanisms of BXXXT for the treatment of multiple diseases using a network pharmacology approach. Here three BXXXT representative diseases (colitis, diabetes mellitus, and gastric cancer) were discussed, and we focus on in silico methods that integrate drug-likeness screening, target prioritizing, and multilayer network extending. A total of 140 core targets and 72 representative compounds were finally identified to elucidate the pharmacology of BXXXT formula. After constructing multilayer networks, a good overlap between BXXXT nodes and disease nodes was observed at each level, and the network-based proximity analysis shows that the relevance between the formula targets and disease genes was significant according to the shortest path distance (SPD) and a random walk with restart (RWR) based scores for each disease. We found that there were 22 key pathways significantly associated with BXXXT, and the therapeutic effects of BXXXT were likely addressed by regulating a combination of targets in a modular pattern. Furthermore, the synergistic effects among BXXXT herbs were highlighted by elucidating the molecular mechanisms of individual herbs, and the traditional theory of "Jun-Chen-Zuo-Shi" of TCM formula was effectively interpreted from a network perspective. The proposed approach provides an effective strategy to uncover the mechanisms of action and combinatorial rules of BXXXT formula in a holistic manner.
| S-EPMC6206573 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Both the environment and our body keep changing dynamically. Hence, ensuring movement precision requires adaptation to multiple demands occurring simultaneously. Here we show that the cerebellum performs the necessary multi-dimensional computations for the flexible control of different movement parameters depending on the prevailing context. This conclusion is based on the identification of a manifold-like activity in both mossy fibers (MFs, network input) and Purkinje cells (PCs, output), recorded from monkeys performing a saccade task. Unlike MFs, the PC manifolds developed selective representations of individual movement parameters. Error feedback-driven climbing fiber input modulated the PC manifolds to predict specific, error type-dependent changes in subsequent actions. Furthermore, a feed-forward network model that simulated MF-to-PC transformations revealed that amplification and restructuring of the lesser variability in the MF activity is a pivotal circuit mechanism. Therefore, the flexible control of movements by the cerebellum crucially depends on its capacity for multi-dimensional computations.
| S-EPMC10156706 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with increasing incidence in children. Current medications have potentially serious side effects, hence increasing interest in alternative therapies. We previously developed an herbal formula, FAHF-2, based on a classical traditional Chinese herbal formula Wu Mei Wan that has long been used in China to treat colitis. We investigated FAHF-2's potential anti-inflammatory effects.FAHF-2 efficacy was tested in vivo in the CD45RbRAG1 transfer colitis model. Weight loss, colonic histology, and cytokine production from mesenteric lymph nodes were assessed. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and colonic biopsies were obtained from children newly diagnosed with CD and controls and cultured with or without FAHF-2. Cytokine levels were measured by multiplex immunoassay. The effect of FAHF-2 on TNF-?-producing cells was determined by flow cytometry. NF-?B signaling was investigated in human lamina propria mononuclear cells upon FAHF-2 treatment by In-Cell Western.FAHF-2-treated mice had decreased weight loss, improved histology, and reduced TNF-?, IL-17, IL-6, and IFN-? production. In vitro treated PBMCs produced less TNF-?, IFN-?, and IL-12. FAHF-2 reduced the TNF-?-producing monocytes and T cells. Inflamed CD biopsies produced less TNF-?, IL-17, IL-6, and IL-1?. These effects are because of decreased NF-?B activation.FAHF-2 inhibited both adaptive and innate immune proinflammatory cytokine responses in PBMCs and inflamed CD mucosa due in part to blockage of NF-?B activation. FAHF-2 was effective in halting progression of colitis in a murine model. This study shows that FAHF-2 has potential as a novel treatment of CD.
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