Network pharmacology analysis of mechanism of Danhong injection in treating bronchial asthma

Huang Xi; Pan Kun-lei; Zheng Yu-hong; Zheng Zhi-yong; Xia Ying-chun; Huang Xiao-xia

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-8157.2024.06.040

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effectively active ingredients,potential targets and mechanisms of Danhong injection (DHI) in the treatment of bronchial asthma (BA). Methods The effectively active components and corresponding targets of DHI were collected from the TCMSP and UniProt databases. BA-related targets were collected from the GeneCards database. The inter-section of the targets corresponding to the effective active components of DHI and the targets of BA was obtained through the Venny 2.1 website. Drug-component-target-disease network diagrams were drawn by using Cytoscape (V3.7.2). Protein interaction analysis of intersecting targets was performed using the STRING database and the cytoHubba plug-in of Cytoscape was installed to determine core targets. The Metascape database was used for gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of intersecting targets. Results A total of 73 active components of DHI,247 corre-sponding target genes,1616 BA-related targets and 149 intersecting targets were obtained. The effective active ingredients of DHI in the treatment of BA included quercetin,luteolin,and baicalin. The main therapeutic targets included signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3),vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA),serine/threonine protein kinase 1 (AKT1),prostaglan-din-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2),and interleukin-6 (IL-6). The major pathways involved cancer pathway,advanced glycation end products and receptor for advanced glycation end products (AGE-RAGE) signaling pathway,interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathway,phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase (PI3K-AKT) signaling pathway,mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) sig-naling pathway,etc. Conclusion DHI can treat BA through multiple active components,multiple therapeutic targets and multiple signaling pathways.