Method for analyzing action mechanism of forsythoside A for relieving inflammatory bowel disease based on network pharmacology
Through network pharmacology methods, a target network of Forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease was constructed, and core targets such as ESR1, MMP3, and REN were screened out, which solved the problem of unclear mechanism of action of Forsythiaside A and achieved a systematic analysis of inflammatory bowel disease.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510775432.8
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-06-11
- Publication Date
- 2025-09-19
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies make it difficult to fully understand the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease, and there is a lack of systematic analysis of its core regulatory targets and signaling pathways.
Network pharmacology methods were used to screen the related targets of forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease, construct Venn diagrams and protein interaction networks, and perform gene cluster analysis using Cytoscape software. Combined with GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, core targets and signaling pathways were identified.
The overall mechanism of action of Forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease was preliminarily elucidated, and core targets such as ESR1, MMP3, and REN were screened out, providing a basis for selection of subsequent research.
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Figure CN120673837A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of network pharmacology of Chinese herbal medicines, and in particular to a method for analyzing the mechanism of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease based on network pharmacology. Background Art
[0002] As research continues to deepen, it is becoming increasingly clear that disease prevention and treatment through simple, single targets is not effective. Instead, it is the interaction of multiple gene targets across a complete network that plays a role. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a new method to analyze regulatory biological networks.
[0003] Network pharmacology represents an innovative approach based on a network perspective. Its core goal is to construct a systematic alternative plan to explore new drug options. Network pharmacology research is no longer limited to the impact of a single disease's genetics or a single target on a drug. Instead, it explores the interaction mechanisms between drugs and multiple targets from a more macroscopic perspective, shifting from a "single component, single target" model to a "multiple components, multiple targets" model. This approach aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of drug mechanisms of action and is dedicated to the search for multi-target drugs with low toxicity, no side effects, and high efficacy.
[0004] Forsythiaside A, the main active ingredient of Forsythia suspensa, has liver and intestinal protection and anti-inflammatory effects, and is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of Forsythia suspensa. However, its mechanism of action is unclear. Therefore, in-depth research on the mechanism of action of Forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease, exploring its therapeutic targets, and revealing its potential signaling pathways are of great significance in exploring the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease and the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine. Summary of the Invention
[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for analyzing the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease based on network pharmacology. The method analyzes the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease by network pharmacology, screens its core targets for regulation, and predicts the signal pathways involved in its regulation. The mechanism of action of Forsythia suspensa in alleviating intestinal inflammation is preliminarily elucidated at the overall level, providing a basis for the selection of subsequent detection indicators.
[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object of the invention, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:
[0007] The present invention provides a method for analyzing the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease based on network pharmacology, comprising the following steps:
[0008] (1) Screening for related targets of forsythiaside A: The structure of forsythiaside A was imported into the PharmMapper database, and targets with a Norm Fit prediction score greater than 0.7 were selected as drug targets. At the same time, the structure of forsythiaside A was imported into the SwissTarget Prediction database to obtain related targets;
[0009] (2) Screening for inflammatory bowel disease-related targets: Using Genecards, OMIM, and Drugbank databases, search with the keyword “Inflammatory Bowel Disease” to obtain disease targets;
[0010] (3) Constructing a Venn diagram of forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease targets: inputting the related targets of forsythiaside A screened in step (1) and the related targets of inflammatory bowel disease screened in step (2) into a drawing tool to construct a Venn diagram, thereby obtaining the common targets of forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease;
[0011] (4) Construct a network diagram of forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease;
[0012] (5) Constructing a protein interaction network diagram: The intersection genes between forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease were input into the STRING online tool for retrieval, the protein type was set to "Homo sapiens", the minimum interaction threshold was set to 0.35-0.45, and the PPI network of protein interaction was constructed;
[0013] (6) The PPI network constructed in step (5) was imported into Cytoscape 3.8.2, and the MCODE module was used to analyze gene clusters and screen core targets;
[0014] (7) Use the David database to perform GO and KEGG enrichment analysis on the common targets obtained in step (3), and use R language to visualize the enrichment results.
[0015] Preferably, the drawing tool in step (3) is the online drawing tool Venny 2.1.
[0016] Preferably, the method for constructing the forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease network diagram in step (4) is: converting the related targets of forsythiaside A screened in step (1) between proteins and genes in Uniprot data; using online tools and Cytoscape v3.7.2 software to process the converted protein data and the related targets of inflammatory bowel disease screened in step (2) to obtain the forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease network diagram.
[0017] Preferably, a total of 3 gene clusters and 3 core genes are screened in step (6).
[0018] Preferably, the core genes are ESR1, MMP3, and REN.
[0019] Preferably, in step (7), GO enrichment analysis obtains three parts: biological process, cellular component and molecular function, and the top 10 pathways with the highest P value in each part are selected to draw a bar chart and bubble chart.
[0020] Preferably, after the KEGG enrichment analysis in step (7), the top 20 pathways ranked by Pvalue are selected to draw a bar chart and bubble chart.
[0021] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:
[0022] The present invention provides a method for analyzing the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease through network pharmacology. By screening core targets and predicting the signal pathways regulated by forsythiaside A, the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease is preliminarily elucidated at the overall level, providing a selection basis for subsequent research. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying any creative work.
[0024] Figure 1 This is the target Venn diagram of "Forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease" in Example 1;
[0025] Figure 2 This is the network diagram of "Forsythiaside A-target-inflammatory bowel disease" in Example 1;
[0026] Figure 3 This is the protein interaction network diagram of "Forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease" in Example 1;
[0027] Figure 4 The core target map obtained by topological analysis in Example 1;
[0028] Figure 5 This is the gene cluster obtained by MCODE cluster analysis in Example 1;
[0029] Figure 6 The GO function enrichment analysis results in Example 1;
[0030] Figure 7 This is the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis result in Example 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0031] The technical solutions provided by the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the embodiments, but they should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0032] Example 1
[0033] 1. Target screening of forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease and identification of common targets
[0034] (1) Screening for related targets of forsythiaside A: The structure of forsythiaside A was obtained using the Pubchem database and imported into the PharmMapper database. Targets with a Norm Fit prediction score greater than 0.7 were selected as drug targets. At the same time, the structure of forsythiaside A was imported into the Swiss Target Prediction database to obtain related targets.
[0035] (2) Screening of inflammatory bowel disease-related targets: Using Genecards, OMIM, and Drugbank databases, search with the keyword "Inflammatory Bowel Disease", remove duplicates, and obtain disease targets.
[0036] (3) Determination of common targets: After the above screening, 137 forsythiaside A related targets and 2037 disease targets were obtained. The obtained targets were input into the online drawing tool Venny 2.1 to draw a Venn diagram. After the intersection of the two, 60 common targets of drug-disease (forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease) were obtained ( Figure 1 ).
[0037] 2. Construct a network diagram of "Forsythiaside A-target-inflammatory bowel disease"
[0038] Forsythiaside A and the 60 drug-disease common targets obtained above were input into Cytoscape v3.7.2 software to draw a "disease-target-component" network diagram. Figure 2 As shown, yellow represents forsythiaside A, purple represents 60 common targets, and red represents disease (inflammatory bowel disease).
[0039] 3. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction and core target analysis
[0040] The screened forsythiaside A targets were converted between proteins and genes in Uniprot data. Then the constructed "forsythiaside A-target-inflammatory bowel disease" network relationship data was imported into Cytoscape software to draw a protein interaction network diagram. The results are as follows Figure 3As shown, the size and color depth of the node change according to the size of the node Degree value.
[0041] The PPI network was imported into Cystoscape 3.8.2, and topological analysis was performed using the Network Analyzer tool. Genes with degree values greater than the average were selected as core targets by degree sorting, and the targets were plotted as bar graphs using R 4.0.5 ( Figure 4 ).
[0042] The intersection genes between forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease (60 common targets) were input into the STRING online tool for retrieval, and the protein type was set to "Homo sapiens" and the minimum interaction threshold was set to 0.4 to construct a protein interaction PPI network. The constructed PPI network was imported into Cytoscape 3.8.2, and the MCODE module was used to analyze gene clusters and screen core targets. A total of 3 gene clusters were obtained ( Figure 5 ) and three core genes (ESR1, MMP3, and REN). This suggests that ESR1, MMP3, and REN may be the core targets of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease.
[0043] 4. GO functional enrichment analysis
[0044] The 60 common drug-disease targets were enriched in the David database GO enrichment analysis to obtain three parts: biological process (BP), cellular component (CC) and molecular function (MF). The results showed that the intersection genes were enriched in 224 biological process pathways; the intersection genes were enriched in 34 cellular component expression processes; and the intersection genes were enriched in 56 molecular function-related processes. The top 10 pathways with the highest P value in each part were selected to draw bar charts and bubble charts ( Figure 6 ).Depend on Figure 6 It can be seen that the biological processes are mainly enriched in proteolysis, negative regulation of apoptotic process, response toestrogen, etc.; the cellular components are mainly enriched in extracellular region, extracellular space, ficolin-1-rich granule lumen, etc.; the molecular functions are mainly enriched in enzyme binding, serine-type endopeptidase activity, identical protein binding, etc.
[0045] 5. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis
[0046] After the 60 common targets were analyzed by KEGG enrichment in the David database, a total of 119 KEGG pathways were obtained. The top 20 pathways ranked by Pvalue were selected to draw a bar chart and bubble chart of KEGG enrichment. -log10(Pvalue) represents the significance of enrichment. The redder the color, the higher the significance ( Figure 7 ).Depend on Figure 7 It can be seen that the main enriched pathways are Relaxin signaling pathway, Pathways in cancer, Endocrine resistance, etc.
[0047] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as within the scope of protection of the present invention.
Claims
1. A method for analyzing the mechanism of action of forsythiaside A in alleviating inflammatory bowel disease based on network pharmacology, characterized in that: The steps include: (1) Screening for related targets of forsythiaside A: The structure of forsythiaside A was imported into the PharmMapper database, and targets with NormFit prediction scores greater than 0.7 were selected as drug targets. At the same time, the structure of forsythiaside A was imported into the Swiss TargetPrediction database to obtain related targets; (2) Screening for inflammatory bowel disease-related targets: Using Genecards, OMIM, and Drugbank databases, search with the keyword "Inflammatory Bowel Disease" to obtain disease targets; (3) Constructing a Venn diagram of forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease targets: inputting the related targets of forsythiaside A screened in step (1) and the related targets of inflammatory bowel disease screened in step (2) into a drawing tool to construct a Venn diagram, thereby obtaining the common targets of forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease; (4) Construct a network diagram of forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease; (5) Constructing a protein interaction network diagram: The intersection genes between forsythiaside A and inflammatory bowel disease were input into the STRING online tool for retrieval, the protein type was set to "Homo sapiens", the minimum interaction threshold was set to 0.35-0.45, and the PPI network of protein interaction was constructed; (6) The PPI network constructed in step (5) was imported into Cytoscape 3.8.2, and the MCODE module was used to analyze gene clusters and screen core targets; (7) Use the David database to perform GO and KEGG enrichment analysis on the common targets obtained in step (3), and use R language to visualize the enrichment results.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The drawing tool in step (3) is the online drawing tool Venny 2.
1.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method for constructing the forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease network diagram in step (4) is as follows: the related targets of forsythiaside A screened in step (1) are converted between proteins and genes in the Uniprot data; the converted protein data are processed with the related targets of inflammatory bowel disease screened in step (2) using online tools and Cytoscape v3.7.2 software to obtain the forsythiaside A-inflammatory bowel disease network diagram.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein In step (6), a total of 3 gene clusters and 3 core genes were screened.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The core genes are ESR1, MMP3, and REN.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein In step (7), GO enrichment analysis was performed to obtain three parts: biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. The top 10 pathways with the highest P value in each part were selected to draw bar charts and bubble charts.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein After the KEGG enrichment analysis in step (7), the top 20 pathways ranked by Pvalue were selected to draw bar charts and bubble charts.