A Multi-Scale Bioinformatics Study on Novel Mechanism of Xintong Granule for Treating Coronary Heart Disease by Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Verification

Abstract Background: Xintong Granule (XTG) is a Chinese patent medicine composed of 13 Chinese herbs, which is widely used in the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, there are few studies on it, and its potential pharmacological mechanism needs to be further elucidated.Methods: In this study, network pharmacology was employed to construct the drug-compounds-targets-pathways molecular regulatory network of the treatment of CHD to explore the effective compounds of XTG and its underlying pharmacological mechanism. First, we established the related ingredients and potential targets of these ingredients databases by Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP) and A Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular mechANism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM). Next, the CHD targets were obtained in DigSee, OMIM, DisGeNET, TTD, GeneCards and GenCLiP3 database. Then, protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis, GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were carried out and the core targets were filtered by topology. Moreover, molecular docking was performed to assess the binding potential of hub targets and key compounds.Results: The result reflected that 178 components of XTG and 669 putative therapeutic targets were screened out. After a systematic and comprehensive analysis, we identified 9 hub targets (TNF, MAPK1, STAT3, IL6, AKT1, INS, EGFR, EGF, TP53) primarily participated in the comprehensive therapeutic effect related to blood circulation, vascular regulation, cell membrane region, compound binding, receptor activity, signal transduction, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, PI3K-AKT signaling pathway and MAPK signaling pathway.Conclusion: The results of this study tentatively clarified the potential targets and signaling pathways of XTG against CHD, which may benefit to the development of clinical experimental research and application.