Exploring the Mechanisms of the Huangqin Qingfei Decoction in Pneumonia Treatment for Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Mouse Model: A Network Pharmacology Analysis and Experimental Validation
Abstract
Objective: In this study, a network pharmacological approach, and in vivo validation experiments were used to screen the active components of the Huangqin Qingfei decoction (HQFD) for their therapeutic efficacy in pneumonia. Methods: The active ingredients and targets of the HQFD were retrieved from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, while pneumonia-related targets were obtained from GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, and the Therapeutic Target Database. A protein–protein interaction network was constructed to identify core targets, followed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses using Metascape. A lipopolysaccharide-induced pneumonia mouse model was established, and verification of the main targets predicted by network pharmacology and therapeutic efficacy assessment was conducted using pathological staining, Western blot, and polymerase chain reaction. Results: We identified 51 active components in the HQFD that primarily affected pneumonia-related targets AKT1, PTGS2, MAPK14, and MMP9. The outcomes of the pathway enrichment analyses conducted by the KEGG and the GO demonstrated that the HQFD regulates genes associated with pathways in cancer, the lipid and atherosclerosis, as well as the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications. Experiments on animals demonstrated that the AKT1, PTGS2, MAPK14, and MMP9 mRNA expression and p-AKT, p-P38,…
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