Potential compound from herbal food of rhizoma polygonati for treatment of COVID-19 analyzed by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology

Graphical abstract
Highlight • Network pharmacology of drug targets of Rhizoma Polygonati (RP) were constructed. • Molecular docking identified high affinity binding of diosgenin and (+)-Syringaresinol-O-beta-D-glucoside to the target proteins of SARS-CoV-2. • Potential compounds in RP may act on multiple target-signaling for potential treatment of COVID-19.
Rhizoma Polygonati (huangjing in Chinese, 黄精) is an herb-homology-food used as a component of alternative medicine treating COVID-19 in the current pandemic emergency in China but the mechanisms remain elusive. Here using TCMSP and Swiss Target Prediction databases to sort out the potential targets of the main chemical components and GenCLiP3, NCBI, and GeneCard databases to search for COVID-19 related targets, the chemical compound-target-pathway network was analyzed. Each component was molecularly docked with host cell target angiotensin converting enzyme II, SARS-CoV-2 targets Spike protein, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, or 3CL hydrolase. Our results showed a higher affinity of the compound diosgenin and (+)-Syringaresinol-O-beta-D-glucoside binding to the three SARS-CoV-2 proteins compared to the other compounds tested. Thus, our data suggest that potential compounds in Rhizoma Polygonati may act on different targets and have a great potential in treatment of COVID-19.