Unraveling the treatment effects of huanglian jiedu decoction on drug-induced liver injury based on network pharmacology, molecular docking and experimental validation

Abstract Huanglian Jiedu Decoction (HJD) is a well-known Traditional Chinese Medicine formula that has been used for liver protection in thousands of years. However, the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of HJD in treating drug-induced liver injury (DILI) remain unknown. In this study, a total of 26 genes related to both HJD and DILI were identified, which are corresponding to a total of 41 potential active compounds in HJD. KEGG analysis revealed that Tryptophan metabolism pathway is particularly important. The overlapped genes from KEGG and GO analysis indicated the significance of CYP1A1, CYP1A2, and CYP1B1. Experimental results confirmed that HJD has a protective effect on DILI through Tryptophan metabolism pathway. In addition, the active ingredients Corymbosin, and Moslosooflavone were found to have relative strong intensity in UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis, showing interactions with CYP1A1, CYP1A2, and CYP1B1 through molecule docking. These findings could provide insights into the treatment effects of HJD on DILI.