Network pharmacology-based prediction of efficacy and mechanism of Chongmyunggongjin-dan acting on Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Objectives: Network pharmacology is a method of constructing and analyzing a drug-compound-target network to predict potential efficacy and mechanisms related to drug targets. In that large-scale analysis can be performed in a short time, it is considered a suitable tool to explore the function and role of herbal medicine. Thus, we investigated the potential functions and pathways of Chongmyunggongjin-dan (CMGJD) on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) via network pharmacology analysis.Methods: Using public databases and PubChem database, compounds of CMGJD and their target genes were collected. The putative target genes of CMGJD and known target genes of AD were compared and found the correlation. Then, the network was constructed using Cytoscape 3.9.1. and functional enrichment analysis was conducted based on the Gene Ontology (GO) Biological process and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Pathways to predict the mechanisms.Results: The result showed that total 104 compounds and 1157 related genes were gathered from CMGJD. The network consisted of 1157nodes and 10034 edges. 859 genes were interacted with AD gene set, suggesting that the effects of CMGJD are closely related to AD. Target genes of CMGJD are considerably associated with various pathways including ‘Positive regulation of chemokine production’, ‘Cellular response to toxic substance’, ‘Arachidonic acid metabolic process’, ‘PI3K-Akt signaling pathway’, ‘Metabolic pathways’, ‘IL-17 signaling pathway’ and ‘Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction’.Conclusion: Through a network pharmacological method, CMGJD was predicted to have high relevance with AD by regulating inflammation. This study could be used as a basis for effects of CMGJD on AD.