Vitex negundo L. derived specialized molecules unveil the multi-targeted therapeutic avenues against COPD: a systems pharmacology approach

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disease caused by increasing breathing passage obstruction which completely disrupts human homeostasis. Some patients require lung transplantation or long-term oxygen therapy. COPD is one of the noxious diseases and its fourth leading cause of death around the globe. There is an immediate need for potential drug development to tackle this serious disease. Folk medicines are used to combat complex diseases that have shown effectiveness in the treatment of breathing diseases. Vitex negundo L. is an ethnobotanically important medicinal plant used for various ailments and modulates human cellular events. This shrub has diverse specialized metabolites and is being used as complementary medicine in various countries. Though systems-level understanding is there on the mode of action, the multi-target treatment strategy for COPD is still a bottleneck. Methods: In this investigation, systems pharmacology, cheminformatics, and molecular docking analyses were performed to unravel the multi-targeted mechanisms of V. negundo L. potential bioactives to combat COPD. Results: Cheminformatics analysis combined with the target mining process identified 86 specialized metabolites and their corresponding 1300 direct human receptors, which were further imputed and validated systematically. Furthermore, molecular docking approaches were employed to evaluate the potential activity of identified potential compounds. In addition, pharmacological features of these bioactives were compared with available COPD drugs to recognize potential compounds that were found to be more efficacious with higher bioactive scores. Conclusions: The present study unravels the druggable targets and identifies the bioactive compounds present in V. negundo L., that may be utilized for potential treatment against COPD. However, further in vivo analyses and clinical trials of these molecules are essential to deciphering their efficacy.