1. Network Pharmacology-Based Identification of Key Targets of Ziyin Mingmu Pills Acting on Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
- Author
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Yang, Yijing, Wang, Ying, Liu, Xiaoqing, Deng, Ying, Lu, Jing, Jiang, Feipeng, Nie, Fujiao, Peng, Jun, Peng, Qinghua, and Qin, Yuhui
- Subjects
ATHEROSCLEROSIS prevention ,WOUND healing ,RETINAL degeneration ,HERBAL medicine ,MEDICINAL plants ,CLINICAL drug trials ,NEOVASCULARIZATION inhibitors ,ENDOTHELIAL growth factors ,WESTERN immunoblotting ,CELL receptors ,OXIDATIVE stress ,CELLULAR signal transduction ,GENE expression ,CELL survival ,RESEARCH funding ,PATHOLOGIC neovascularization ,IMMUNITY ,PHARMACEUTICAL chemistry ,DRUG development ,CELL lines ,COMPUTER-assisted molecular modeling ,REACTIVE oxygen species ,VASCULAR endothelial growth factors ,CHINESE medicine ,LIPIDS ,PHARMACODYNAMICS - Abstract
Objective. This study is designed to find out the molecular targets of effective Chinese medicine Ziyin Mingmu pills (ZMPs) in treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD) based on network pharmacology and experimental data. Methods. A comprehensive network pharmacology strategy that consists of three sequential modules (drug-disease target molecular docking, enrichment analysis, and external verification) was carried out to identify potential targets of ZMPs acting on AMD. Results. The active ingredients of ZMPs targeting 66 genes have effects on the process of AMD. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses suggested that response to oxidative stress, regulation of angiogenesis, and lipid and atherosclerosis might serve as the most important signaling pathways in ZMPs for AMD treatment. Combined with the GSE29801 dataset for further analysis, two key genes, EGFR and VEGFA, were identified. Immune infiltration analysis showed that there was a strong association between EGFR and immune cell content. In addition, images were acquired following 24 h in the scratch experiment showed that ZMPs can reduce the percentage of wound healing distance. The Western blot assay found that ZMPs increased the expression of EGFR and decreased the expression of VEGFA. Conclusion. This study sheds light on some mechanisms of ZMP therapy for AMD, particularly the effect of ZMP on the oxidative stress in RPE and cell survival and angiogenesis in AMD. We propound ZMPs as a promising strategy to intervene in the process of AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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