Prediction of the Anti-inflammatory Mechanism of Clematis chinensis based on Network Pharmacology

Abstract

Clematis chinensis is a traditional Chinese medicine with good anti-inflammatory effects, but the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear. In this work, the potential mechanism of Clematis chinensis with anti-inflammatory effect was explored using the network pharmacology. The active chemical constituents of Clematis chinensis were screened according to the pharmacodynamic activities and ADME parameters, then the potential anti-inflammatory targets of the active chemical constituents in Clematis chinensis were screened with the databases of TCMSP, PubChem, TCMID, etc., and the target data sets were established through the BATMAN-TCM database, traditional Chinese medicine target database, HIT database, and TTD database. The targets related to inflammation were screened by using OMIM database, and the interactive target between clematis chinensis and inflammation were constructed by using PPI database. The complex network map of "drug composition-target-disease" was constructed by Cytoscape software, and GO (gene function) analysis was carried out by using ClueGO plug-in. Protein interaction analysis, target gene function enrichment analysis, and signal pathway analysis were carried out by STRING database, biological information annotation database (DAVID), and KEGG Pathway database. 39 out of 458 chemical constituents of Clematis chinensis had good drug-likeness and activity. 35 key targets were screened out by Degree, Betweenness Centrality, Closeness Centrality, and other network topology characteristics, and these targets were involved in 25 signaling pathways related to the anti-inflammatory action including TNF signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, etc. In addition, it was also related to the positive and negative regulation of many biological processes such as inflammatory response, positive regulation of I-kappaB, kinase/NF-kappaB signaling, positive regulation of NF-kappaB, etc. The TNF signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, and NF-kappa B signaling pathway were closely related to the anti-inflammatory activity of Clematis chinensis. Network pharmacology could be used to study the anti-inflammatory molecular mechanism of Clematis chinensis, which is beneficial to the development and utilization of Clematis chinensis.