摘要
Objective:To explore the main pathways and possible mechanisms of saffron anti-atherosclerosis(AS)using network pharmacology.Methods:The active ingredients and target proteins of the drug were obtained from the TCMSP database,and the gene names corresponding to the target proteins were queried using the Uniprot database to obtain human targets regulated by saffron.Human targets of AS were obtained from DisGeNET database and previous literature.The target gene of saffron was intersected with the target gene of AS to obtain the target gene of saffron for AS.With the help of Cytoscape 3.7.2 software,a saffron active ingredient-potential target,saffron active ingredient-AS disease target interaction network was constructed,and the core targets of saffron's role in AS disease were screened out through evaluation of network topological characteristics such as degree;The ClueGo plug-in in Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to analyze GO biological processes and KEGG metabolic pathways of targets.Results:With the drug-like property≥0.18 as the limiting condition and previous literature search and screening,22 compounds were obtained.A total of 106 saffron-regulated target proteins and 117 AS targets were obtained.The intersections were obtained to obtain 26 saffron targets for AS.According to the degree of drug-candidate component-AS candidate target network,the main effective components of saffron anti-AS were crocetin,isorhamnetin and quercetin.26 gene targets were analyzed by KEGG enrichment using the ClueGo plug-in in Cytoscape 3.7.2 software to obtain pathways related to saffron treatment of AS.Using the KEGG database and consulting previous literature,a schematic diagram of the related pathways of saffron anti-AS was obtained.Conclusion:The anti-AS of saffron may be mainly caused by crocetin,isorhamnetin and quercetin in saffron to exert anti-inflammatory and inhibit angiogenesis effects,thereby achieving anti-AS effect.
基金
Modernization of traditional Chinese medicine of national key research plan(No.2019YFC1709300)
National major new drug development project(No.2017ZX09304003)。