Study on the mechanism of Qijiaoshengbai capsule in treating leukopenia based on network pharmacology and clinical efficacy analysis
This study aims to explore the mechanism of Qijiaoshengbai capsule in treating leukopenia by using net-work pharmacology and molecular docking technology.The functional target of Qijiaoshengbai capsule was obtained through TCMSP,Swiss TargetPrediction database and relevant literature reports.Then,therapeutic targets for leuko-penia were obtained from the GeneCards database.After the intersection of the functional target of Qijiaoshengbai capsule and the therapeutic target of leukopenia,the gene ontological function(GO)and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG)were performed in the DAVID database.The patients with leukopenia who used Qi-jiaoshengbai capsule during hospitalization in our hospital were recruited,and the changes of leukocyte level before and after taking Qijiaoshengbai capsule were determined.The animal experiment was used to verify the core target of Qijiaoshengbai capsule predicted by the network pharmacology in the treatment of leukopenia.There were 124 inter-section targets between Qijiaoshengbai capsule and leukopenia.GO enrichment analysis mainly focused on gene ex-pression regulation,apoptosis process and cell proliferation,and KEGG enrichment analysis mainly focused on PI3K-Akt signal,cell senescence,TNF signaling pathway,cell apoptosis,IL-17 signaling pathway and NF-kappa B signaling pathway.Through the network diagram analysis of"drug-active ingredient-target-pathway-disease",quercetin,luteolin,genistein,kaempferol,β-sitosterol,fisetin,liquiritigenin,8-isopentene kaempferol,calycosin and β-carotene were found to be the core active ingredients of Qijiaoshengbai capsule,which can act on the key targets of PTGS2,RXRA,PIK3CG,CDK2,TNF,IL6,AKT1,CASP3,MAPK1,BCL2,and play a role in the treatment of leukopenia.The clinical study found that Qijiaoshengbai capsule could significantly increase the level of white blood cells with an effective rate of 60.00%in the patients with leukopenia.Animal experiments showed that Qijiaoshengbai capsule significantly increased the levels of white blood cells(P<0.05),and decreased the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in peripheral blood(P<0.05).The results showed that the active ingredients of Qijiaoshengbai capsule could act on key targets such as TNF-α and IL-6,participate in im-mune inflammation and other pathways and play a role in the treatment of leukopenia.