Mechanism of Qidan Tangshen Granules in the Treatment of Diabetes Nephropathy Based on Network Pharmacology
Objective To investigate the mechanism of Qidan Tangshen Granules in the treatment of diabetes nephropathy(DN).Methods The main components of Qidan Tangshen Granules were obtained by the TCMSP and HERB databases,and the relevant targets were obtained by the SwissTargetPrediction database.The targets of disease were obtained by the OMIM,GeneCards and TTD databases.The common targets of drug and disease targets were obtained by the Venny 2.1 software.A ″drug-component-target-disease″ network was constructed by the Cytoscape 3.9.1 software.Protein-protein interaction(PPI)analysis of common targets was performed by the STRING database.The core components and core targets of Qidan Tangshen Granules in the treatment of DN were analyzed by the Network Analyzer function of the Cytoscape software.The gene ontology(GO)functional enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)pathway enrichment analysis on common targets were performed by the DAVID database.The expression levels of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related proteins in DN model rats were verified by the pharmacological experiments.Results A total of 121 main drug components,909 drug targets,997 disease targets and 107 common targets were searched.Topological analysis showed there were 17 core components of Qidan Tangshen Granules in the treatment of DN.GO functional enrichment analysis showed 825 relevant functional entries,including 646 biological processes,81 cellular components,and 98 molecular functions,mainly involving positive regulation of gene expression,cytoplasmic membrane,protein binding and so on.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed 147 pathways,mainly involving the cancer pathway,AGE-RAGE signaling pathway,HIF-1 signaling pathway,PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and so on.The expression levels of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-Akt/Akt proteins in kidney tissue homogenate of DN model rats significantly decreased under the drug(P<0.05).Conclusion Qidan Tangshen Granules can intervene in DN through multiple targets and signaling pathways,and the improvement of kidney injury through the regulation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway may be one of its mechanisms.