Study on the mechanism of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.- Jujubae Fructus in the treatment of hepatocirrhosis based on network pharmacology

Abstract

The active components, targets, and pathways of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus in treating hepatocirrhosis and the mechanism of action were explored by means of network pharmacology. Firstly, the active components and related targets of Jujubae Fructus were screened by TCMSP database and standardized by Uniprot database. The compounds of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud. were obtained by searching the literature and finally screened by PubChem database, Swiss ADME, and SwissTargetPrediction. Hepatocirrhosis targets were obtained through Genecards database, PPI network analysis was conducted on common targets of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus and hepatocirrhosis by using String database, GO enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis was conducted through Metascape database by using intersection targets of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.- Jujubae Fructus and hepatocirrhosis, and the results were drawn by using Weishengxin online drawing platform. Then, the network of drug-compound-target-pathway was constructed by the software of Cytoscape3.8.0. Finally, the above results were verified by molecular docking. 47 active compounds from Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus were screened out, which had 38 common targets, 162 intersection targets, and 340 signal pathways with hepatocirrhosis, mainly involving hepatitis C, JAK-STAT signal pathway and AGE-RAGE signal pathway. Targets, such as MAPK1, AKT1, TNF, JUN, IL6 and PTGS2, play important roles in the treatment. The findings suggested that the main active ingredients of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus in treating hepatocirrhosis are quercetin, scopolamine, physcion, 7-deoxyrangduin, 17-Hydroxyjolkinolide A, etc. Molecular docking results showed that the main active components and core targets might have a good binding capacity. This study preliminarily explored the potential mechanism of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus in treating hepatocirrhosis and provided a theoretical basis for the clinical application of Euphorbia fischeriana Steud.-Jujubae Fructus.

Keywords

Euphorbia fischeriana Steud. / Jujubae Fructus / hepatocirrhosis / network pharmacology

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by Qiqihar Science and Technology Plan Joint Guidance Project (LSFGG-2022042).

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