Background: Jiawei Du Huo Parasitic Decoction (JDPD) is an ancient Chinese herbal medicinal compound used to treat Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (LIDD). However, its specific mechanism has not yet been clarified.
Objective: This study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms of JDPD in the treatment of LIDD using the network pharmacology method.
Methods: In this study: a network pharmacology approach was used to determine the underlying mechanism of JDPD in treating LIDD. Firstly, the effective active components and potential targets of JDPD were screened from TCMSP, TCMID, DrugBank, and Therapeutic Target Database. Then, the potential targets of LIDD were obtained from the GeneCards, DisGeNET, DrugBank, and OMIM databases. Based on the matching results of the JDPD potential targets and the LIDD targets, protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed to analyze the interactions among these targets and screen the hub gene targets via topology. In addition, the DAVID database was used for the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. The active ingredient-target-pathway network was constructed and molecular docking was verified. Finally, the key targets were verified by RT-qPCR.
Results: This study screened 205 effective components of LIDD and 39 common targets of JDPD and LIDD. In total, ten key targets were obtained by constructing PPI networks and performing parameter calculations. We further confirmed that five screened gene targets were closely associated with LIDD by RT-qPCR. The results of GO and KEGG enrichment analyses suggested these key targets are primarily involved in complex therapeutic effects. Furthermore, we performed virtual docking of the targets and active components to verify they can bind stably.
Conclusions: This study used network pharmacology approaches to reveal that JDPD may be used to treat LIDD mainly by regulating inflammatory factor expression, cell apoptosis, cell proliferation, and extracellular matrix degradation, providing new insights for further research.