Potential Mechanism of Tibetan Medicine Dali in the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases via Network Pharmacology

Abstract Background: As a source of Tibetan medicine “Dali”, Rhododendron anthopogonoides Maxim (RAM) has good medically helpful effect on respiratory diseases. However, due to its complex components, there is still a lack of pharmacological and pharmacodynamic research on its active components. Methods: The research method of the network pharmacology was used in this study, to obtain the mechanism of RAM in the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The active components of RAM were obtained by searching the relevant database, and the protein targets of each chemical component in RAM were screened by Traditional Chinese Medicine Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and PubChem. Then, the protein targets were normalized to the corresponding gene name through UniProt. Meanwhile, genes related to ALI were searched by Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database, GeneCards database, DrugBank database and DisGeNET database. The “Component-Target-Protein” network was established by Cytoscape software, and the core targets were screened by combining with STRING software. Finally, GO and KEGG enrichment analysis were carried out by David database. Results: Combined with all above results, 92 active components of RAM and 176 gene targets of ALI/ARDS were screened, including 46 common targets, which were related to biological processes such as inflammation, immune and inflammatory response, cell growth and differentiation and apoptosis. Conclusions: It can be concluded through the investigation of network pharmacology that RAM regulates a variety of physiological processes such as cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis and death by activating the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, as well as regulating the inflammatory response of cells, the immune response of the body and promoting the inflammatory cytokines NF‐κB dependent expression and other processes to treat ALI/ARDS. This study revealed the mechanism of RAM multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway, and provided scientific basis and research ideas for its clinical application.