Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms of the Effects of Prunella vulgaris against Subacute Thyroiditis Based on Network Pharmacology

Abstract

Prunella vulgaris (PV) has a long history of application in traditional Chinese and Western medicine as a remedy for the treatment of subacute thyroiditis (SAT). This study applied network pharmacology to elucidate the mechanism of the effects of PV against SAT. Components of the potential therapeutic targets of PV and SAT-related targets were retrieved from databases. To construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, the intersection of SAT-related targets and PV-related targets was input into the STRING platform. Gene ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were carried out using the DAVID database. Networks were constructed by Cytoscape for visualization. The results showed that a total of 11 compounds were identified according to the pharmacokinetic parameters of ADME. A total of 126 PV-related targets and 2207 SAT-related targets were collected, and 83 overlapping targets were subsequently obtained. The results of the KEGG pathway and compound-target-pathway (C-T-P) network analysis suggested that the anti-SAT effect of PV mainly occurs through quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol and is most closely associated with their regulation of inflammation and apoptosis by targeting the PIK3CG, MAPK1, MAPK14, TNF, and PTGS2 proteins and the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways. The study demonstrated that quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, and beta-sitosterol in PV may play a major role in the treatment of SAT, which was associated with the regulation of inflammation and apoptosis, by targeting the PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways.

Water-Extracted Prunella vulgaris Alleviates Endometriosis by Reducing Aerobic Glycolysis

“…Inhibition of PDK3 activity or expression levels increases mitoROS, oxidative phosphorylation, and pyruvate dehydrogenase activity under normoxic conditions ( Kluza et al, 2012 ). Other pharmacology and molecular docking analyses have revealed that P. vulgaris (in both plant and prepared medicine forms) affects HIF-1α and the apoptosis signaling pathway in sleep disorders ( Guo et al, 2020 ), thyroiditis ( Shen et al, 2020 ), and diabetes mellitus ( Jiao et al, 2021 ). Moreover, UA and its derivatives have been trialed as HIF-1α inhibitors with anticancer potential ( Shan et al, 2016 ; Wang et al, 2016 ; Chi et al, 2017 ).…”

Identification of miRNA and Their Regulatory Effects Induced by Total Flavonoids From Dracocephalum moldavica in the Treatment of Vascular Dementia

“…Kaempferol, one of the active compounds in TFDM, is also an essential ingredient in the extracts of Ginkgo biloba leaves, having antioxidant properties by acting as a free radical scavenger ( Ahlemeyer and Krieglstein, 2003 ). Kaempferol plays a role in the regulation of inflammation and apoptosis through the targeting of the PI3-kinase p110-gamma subunit (PIK3CG) ( Shen et al, 2020 ). Luteolin, another active ingredient of TFDM, displays neuroprotective effects on the BBB by inhibiting fibrillary Aβ 1–40 -induced inflammation through the inhibition of the p38 MAPK signaling pathways, as reported by our previous work ( Zhang et al, 2017 ).…”

Explore the Mechanism of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge against Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Based on Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification

“…The network was composed of dots and lines. The nodes represent active ingredients, targets, or pathways, and the lines represent the interaction between them [ 14 ].…”

“…Thus, we adopted network pharmacology analysis based on bioinformatics and systems biology to carry out the research [ 13 ]. Network pharmacology systematically reveals the complex relationship between drugs and diseases by constructing biological networks and visualizing the network to analyze potential active ingredients, pivotal targets, signaling pathways, and diseases [ 14 ]. It is a powerful tool to improve drug efficacy and accelerate drug research and development.…”