1. Integrating network pharmacology and experimental validation to decipher the mechanism of the Chinese herbal prescription JieZe-1 in protecting against HSV-2 infection
- Author
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Tong Liu, Qingqing Shao, Wenjia Wang, Yonggui Ma, Tianli Liu, Ximing Jin, Jianguo Fang, Guangying Huang, and Zhuo Chen
- Subjects
traditional chinese medicine ,pyroptosis ,molecular docking ,Therapeutics. Pharmacology ,RM1-950 - Abstract
Context The Chinese herbal prescription JieZe-1 (JZ-1) is effective against HSV-2 (Herpes simplex virus type 2) infection. However, its mechanism remains unclear. Objective To explore the mechanism of JZ-1 in protecting against HSV-2 infection. Materials and methods Using the methods of network pharmacology, the hub components and targets were screened and functionally enriched. We established a genital herpes (GH) mouse model and observe the disease characteristics. Then, the GH mice in different groups (10 per/group) were treated with 20 μL JZ-1 gel (2.5, 1.5, and 0.5 g/mL), acyclovir gel (0.03 g/mL), or plain carbomer gel twice a day. The symptom score, vulvar histomorphology, and virus load were measured. The critical proteins of caspase-1–dependent pyroptosis were analysed by microscopy, co-immunoprecipitation, western blotting, and ELISA. Molecular docking was also performed. Results Network pharmacology analysis identified 388 JZ-1 targets related to HSV-2 infection, with 36 hub targets and 21 hub components screened. The TCID50 of HSV-2 was 1 × 10−7/0.1 mL. JZ-1 gel (2.5 g/mL) can effectively reduce the symptom score (81.23%), viral load (98.42%) and histopathological changes, and significantly inhibit the proteins expression of caspase-1–dependent pyroptosis in GH mice (p
- Published
- 2022
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