https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1016-4060
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Abstract
Purpose
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by mucosal inflammation, which may develop into ulcerative colitis-associated carcinogenesis (UCAC) with disease progression. Qingchang Wenzhong Decoction (QCWZD) is a classic and effective prescription for the clinical treatment of UC. QCWZD has been shown to alleviate intestinal mucosal injury in acute and chronic UC models. This study aimed to explore and then verify the pharmacological mechanisms of QCWZD in UC and UCAC therapy.
Methods
In this study, approaches including microarray analysis, network pharmacology, and biological verification are employed to clarify the mechanism of QCWZD in the treatment of UC and UCAC. TCMSP, Swiss Target Prediction, and Similarity Ensemble Approach were used to investigate the active ingredients and targets of QCWZD. UC and UCAC valid targets were identified by the microarray data in the GEO database (GSE38713 and GSE47908). The core targets were obtained by PPI network and enriched by GO and KEGG. DSS and AOM/DSS mouse models were adopted to verify the above analysis results.
Results
The enrichment analysis showed that the therapeutic targets of QCWZD enriched in blood circulation, cell adhesion molecules, and pathways of inflammation and cancer such as IL-17 signaling pathway and toll-like receptor signaling pathway were involved in the multiple synergies of QCWZD on UC and UCAC treatment. The results of experiments demonstrated that QCWZD can exert its effects on protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier, regulating inflammation and improving intestinal fibrosis in UC and UCAC and the main mechanism of QCWZD in treatment of UC and UCAC may be related to the activation of the IL-17, NF-κB and TLR4 signaling pathways.
Conclusion
Our results indicated that QCWZD treated UC and UCAC via multiple targets and pathways and the IL-17, NF-κB and TLR4 signaling pathways may be highly involved in this process.
Data Sharing Statement
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, Key Research Project of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. We deeply appreciate all the members of our team.
Author Contributions
All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.