Analysis of network pharmacology and molecular docking on Xuezhikang Capsules in the treatment of atherosclerosis

Gao Jin; Dong Jiming; Wang Junpeng; Wang Xinjun; Chen Hao

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-4055.2024.10.04

Abstract：Objective To explore the mechanism of the Xuezhikang capsule in the treatment of atherosclerosis according to the network pharmacology method.Methods Using databases such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),TCMSP,and PubChem to obtain the active components and targets of drugs,and employing databases like GeneCards to gather and summarize the related targets of atherosclerotic diseases,a Venn diagram was constructed to identify the common target genes between Xuezhikang and atherosclerosis.Network construction and visualization were performed using Cytoscape V3.10.0 software to identify key targets,while PPI analysis of common targets was conducted using the STRING database.GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were carried out using sangerbox 3.0,with charts being drawn to illustrate the findings.Finally,molecular docking analysis was performed using Autodock software to evaluate the binding energy between some active components of Xuezhikang capsules and atherosclerosis-related target proteins,with the docking results visualized and graphed using PyMOL2.5.Results 247 common targets of Xuezhikang and atherosclerosis were obtained,including core targets such as Interleukin-6(IL-6),serine/threonine protein kinase 1(AKT1),tyrosine kinase C-SRC protein(SRC),age-range signal pathway,lipid and atherosclerosis pathway,cancer pathogenesis pathway,FoxO transcription factor signal pathway,prolactin signal pathway and so on.By analyzing and visualizing the results of molecular docking,it is proved that the active components of the Xuezhikang capsule combine with the core target of atherosclerosis to a certain extent.Conclusion Through the analysis of the mechanism of the Xuezhikang capsule on atherosclerosis by network pharmacology,it is concluded that the mechanism of the Xuezhikang capsule may be through the key targets such as IL-6,AKT1 and SRC to affect lipid metabolism and inflammatory reaction to treat atherosclerosis.