Analysis of network pharmacology and experimental verification to explore the mechanism of Modified Guilu Erxian Glue in the treatment of low immune function

• Published in: Pharmacological research. Modern Chinese medicine 2023-06, Vol.7, p.100213, Article 100213
• Main Authors: Wang, Yue, Wang, Haohao, Gao, Chunyu, Zhao, Yan, He, Zhongmei, Chen, Weijia, Zong, Ying, Du, Rui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Immunosuppression; Mechanism of action; Network pharmacology; NF-κB signal
• ISSN: 2667-1425; 2667-1425
• DOI: 10.1016/j.prmcm.2022.100213

•The cyclophosphamide immunosuppression (Cy) model was established to observe the effect of MGEG compound on immune injury in mice, and the best compound was selected for network pharmacological analysis.•A disease drug compound target network was constructed, and MGEG treatment candidate targets for immunodeficiency diseases were identified.•The hub targets screened in the PPI network showed the active factors involved in the main biological functions in MGEG.•GO and KEGG enrichment analysis was carried out according to the common target between Chinese herbal medicine and low immunity to determine the biological process and signal pathway.•The core components and targets obtained by network pharmacology were verified by Western blot analysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of modified Guilu Erxian Gum (MGEG) on cyclophosphamide (Cy) induced immunosuppression in mice. Based on network pharmacology, the comprehensive mechanism of immune hypofunction was preliminarily discussed. Cyimmunosuppression model was established to observe the effect of MGEG compound on immune injury in mice. The best compound was screened for network pharmacological analysis, and the "drug component" and "disease drug target" networks were established by network pharmacological methods. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were conducted according to the common target between Chinese herbal medicine and low immunity to determine the biological process and signal pathway. The core components and targets obtained by network pharmacology were verified by Western blot analysis (WB). In vivo experiments showed that the weight, thymus index, organ index, carbon particle clearance index, phagocytosis index, foot thickening level, macrophage phagocytosis and natural killer cell killing activity of immunosuppressed mice induced by Cy were significantly increased by Codonopsis pilosula, Guilu Erxian Jiaowei Wuxing Powder (CGW) (p