Uncovering the Pharmacological of Xiaochaihu Decoction in the Treatment of Pancreatitis Based on the Network Pharmacology

Abstract BackgroundXiaochaihu Decoction (XD) has been demonstrated the pharmacodynamic on pancreatitis. This study was aimed to investigate the material and molecular basis of Xiaochaihu Decoction.MethodsFirstly, compounds of seven herbs containing XD were collected from TCMSP Database and the putative targets of Pancreatitis were obtained from OMIM, TTD, Genecards Database. Then PPI network was constructed according to the matching results between XD potential targets and pancreatic neoplasms targets. Furthermore, enrichment analysis on GO and KEGG by DAVID utilized bioinformatics resources. Finally, Molecular Docking was performed to simulate the interaction between the active compound of XD and putative targets. In vitro experiment, AR42J cells were induced by LPS and then treated with Quercetin (25, 50, 100 μM). The IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β levels were detected by Elisa kit and MAPK3, TP53 mRNA expressions were measured by RT-PCR.ResultsA total of 196 active ingredients and 91 putative targets were selected out. The PPI interaction network analysis demonstrated that Quercetin was the candidate agents and MAPK3, IL-6 and TP53 were the potential targets for the XD treatment of pancreatitis. The KEGG analysis revealed that pathways in cancers, TNF signaling way, MAPK signaling way might play an important role in pancreatitis therapy. And Molecular Docking results showed that Quercetin combined well with MAPK3, IL-6 and TP53. In vitro experiment indicated that, Quercetin inhibited the IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β levels and MAPK3, TP53 mRNA. ConclusionThis study illustrated that Quercetin containing in XD might played an important role in pancreatitis therapy by acting the key genes of MPAK3, IL-6 and TP53 which were associating with inflammation and apoptosis.