Efficacy of Huangkui Capsules in the Treatment of Diabetic Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review and Using Network Pharmacology

Abstract

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a severe and common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus, has become a major cause of end-stage renal disease. Huangkui capsule (HKC) has been widely used to treat DKD. This meta-analysis aimed to provide high-quality evidence for the clinical application of HKC in DKD. The following databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chongqing VIP, SinoMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, PubMed, and The Cochrane Library, were searched for randomized controlled trials using the search theme: "angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) combined with HKC for treatment of DKD" from their inception dates till August 2022. Studies were selected following our inclusion and exclusion criteria, and we extracted the required data. RevMan 5.3 was used for data statistics and analysis. Based on the main components identified by high performance liquid chromatography, the SwissADME, SwissTarget-Prediction, and UniProt databases were used to predict the target genes of HKC. OMIM, DrugBank, GeneCards, and DisGeNet databases were used to predict DKD-related target genes. Venny 2.0 was then used to find the common targets in HKC and DKD. We conducted an HKC-ingredients-targets-DKD network using Cytoscape and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using the STRING database. Finally, we performed a Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis using the DAVID database. Exactly 15 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Compared with the control group using ACEI/ARB only, ACEI/ARB combined with HKC was found to significantly lower the urine albumin excretion rate (UAER; standard mean difference [SMD] = -1.