Advanced Search

Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine >

2026 , Vol. 46 >Issue 1: 138 - 148

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.01.013

Original Articles

A network pharmacology-based strategy to discover the molecular mechanism of correlation between the treatment of bronchial asthma with Wenyang Huayin decoction (温阳化饮方) and autophagy

  • Mingzhe ZHAO ,
  • Peizheng YAN ,
  • Xiaomin ZHAO ,
  • Yufan CHEN ,
  • Mengsitong LI ,
  • Yuping ZHOU ,
  • Lu ZHANG ,
  • Liwen DOU ,
  • Yan LIU ,
  • Hong ZHENG ,
  • Jia LI
Expand
  • 1 School of Pharmacy, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
    2 Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Literature and Culture, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
    3 High Level Key Disciplines of Traditional Chinese Medicine Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
    4 Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Classical Theory, Ministry of Education, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
    5 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yantai 264199, China
    6 Hospital of Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai 264005, China
    7 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China
ZHAO Mingzhe and YAN Peizheng are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work

Received date: 2024-05-12

  Online published: 2026-01-28

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China: Study on the Mechanism of Airway Inflammation in Rats with Bronchial Asthma Cold Drink Lung Syndrome Treated with Metastasis Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 Regulated Autophagy(82004233);Shandong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project: Exploring the Mechanism of Xiaoqinglong Tang's Intervention in Bronchial Asthma Cold Drink Lung Syndrome through the "Temperature Sensing Channel Transient Receptor Potential Mitochondrial Autophagy" Pathway based on Transcriptomics Combined with Proteomics(MR20241737);Shandong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project: Optimization of Ultrasonic Extraction Process and Study on Structure and Activity of Asarum Polysaccharides(Q-2023042);Shandong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project: Study on the Mechanism of Ma Gui Synergistic Intervention on Airway Inflammatory Response in Rats with Asthma Cold Drink and Lung Accumulation Syndrome(Q-2023122);2023 Qilu Biancang Traditional Chinese Medicine Talent Cultivation Project, Shandong Province Medical and Health Science and Technology Development Plan Project: Study on the Mechanism of Airway Epithelial Cell Inflammation Induced by Cellular Autophagy Regulation lncRNA Metastasis Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 Antagonism Against Ovalbumin Intervention(202203020866)

Fold

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the key targets and mechanisms of the Wenyang Huayin decoction (WYHYD, 温阳化饮方) in treating bronchial asthma with cold fluid retention syndrome using network pharmacology and animal experiments.

METHODS: On the one hand, we used network pharmacology method to explored the chemical components of the WYHYD and the main targets of bronchial asthma were acquired. Besides, a protein interaction network was built after protein interaction analysis to find potential protein functional modules. Then, we constructed the "WYHYD component-bronchial asthma target-pathway" network. On the other hand, the experimental intervention was as follows: first, we formed a rat model of bronchial asthma. Thereafter, we used the WYHYD to treat the disease while observing autophagy-related indicators as the core target of network pharmacology.

RESULTS: The network pharmacology revealed that there are 122 potential therapeutic targets in treating bronchial asthma with WYHYD. The biological processes mainly involved in the WYHYD included Gene Ontology: 0110032: positive regulation of G2/MI transition of the medical cell cycle etc. and four major signaling pathways were involved. During laboratory investigations, various signs and clinical manifestations of the rat model group were the same. After administering the WYHYD, lung function, pathological sections, inflammatory factors, and other microscopic indicators improved to varying degrees, providing evidence for the study results. Meanwhile, we verified that the core targets of WYHYD in treating asthma through the intervention of autophagy are tumor necrosis factor, caspase 8, interleukin 1 beta, sirtuin 1, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase catalytic subunit type 3, C-C chemokine receptor type 7, L/YN kinase, and protein tyrosine kinase 2.

CONCLUSION: This preliminary study revealed the treatment process of bronchial asthma with multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway mechanisms of the WYHYD.

Key words： alkaloids; asthma; drug development; pathway analysis; network pharmacology; Wenyang Huayin decoction

Cite this article

Mingzhe ZHAO , Peizheng YAN , Xiaomin ZHAO , Yufan CHEN , Mengsitong LI , Yuping ZHOU , Lu ZHANG , Liwen DOU , Yan LIU , Hong ZHENG , Jia LI . A network pharmacology-based strategy to discover the molecular mechanism of correlation between the treatment of bronchial asthma with Wenyang Huayin decoction (温阳化饮方) and autophagy[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2026 , 46(1) : 138 -148 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.01.013

References

1. Mims JW. Asthma: definitions and pathophysiology. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 2015; 5: S2-6.
2. Mauer Y, Taliercio RM. Managing adult asthma: the 2019 GINA guidelines. Cleve Clin J Med 2020; 87: 569-75.
3. King-Biggs MB. Asthma. Ann Intern Med 2019; 171: ITC49-64.
4. Huang K, Yang T, Xu JY, et al. Prevalence, risk factors, and management of asthma in China: a national cross-sectional study. Lancet 2019; 394: 407-18.
5. Papi A, Brightling C, Pedersen SE, et al. Asthma. Lancet 2018; 391: 783-800.
6. Li J, Zhang F, Li JY. The immunoregulatory effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine on treatment of asthma or asthmatic inflammation. Am J Chin Med 2015; 43: 1059-81.
7. Chang X. Study on the mechanism of autophagy of Wenyang Huayin formula in rat model of asthma with cold retention accumulation in lung syndrome based on theory of lung yang deficiency. Jinan: Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2020: 1-125.
8. Lü X, Xu Z, Xu G, et al. Investigation of the active components and mechanisms of Schisandra chinensis in the treatment of asthma based on a network pharmacology approach and experimental validation. Food Funct 2020; 11: 3032-42.
9. Li S, Zhang ZQ, Wu LJ, et al. Understanding ZHENG in Traditional Chinese Medicine in the context of neuro-endocrine-immune network. IET Syst Biol 2007; 1: 51-60.
10. Zhou W, Zhang H, Wang X, et al. Network pharmacology to unveil the mechanism of Moluodan in the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis. Phytomedicine 2022; 95: 153837.
11. Yang PR, Zhong CH, Huan H, et al. Potential pharmacological mechanisms of four active compounds of Macleaya cordata extract against enteritis based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. Front Physiol 2023; 14: 1178492.
12. Wang X, Wang ZY, Zheng JH, et al. TCM network pharmacology: a new trend towards combining computational, experimental and clinical approaches. Chin J Nat Med 2021; 19: 1-11.
13. Ru J, Li P, Wang J, et al. TCMSP: a database of systems pharmacology for drug discovery from herbal medicines. J Cheminform 2014; 6: 13.
14. UniProt Consortium. UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase in 2021. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49: D480-9.
15. Fishilevich S, Nudel R, Rappaport N, et al. GeneHancer: genome-wide integration of enhancers and target genes in GeneCards. Database (Oxford) 2017; 2017: bax028.
16. Zhou Y, Zhang Y, Lian X, et al. Therapeutic target database update 2012: a resource for facilitating target-oriented drug discovery. Nucleic Acids Res 2012; 40: D1128-36.
17. Hamosh A, Scott AF, Amberger JS, et al. Online mendelian inheritance in man (OMIM), a knowledgebase of human genes and genetic disorders. Nucleic Acids Res 2005; 33: D514-7.
18. Pi?ero J, Ramírez-Anguita JM, Saüch-Pitarch J, et al. The DisGeNET knowledge platform for disease genomics: 2019 update. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48: D845-55.
19. Wishart DS, Feunang YD, Guo AC, et al. DrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018. Nucleic Acids Res 2018; 46: D1074-82.
20. Szklarczyk D, Gable AL, Nastou KC, et al. The STRING database in 2021: customizable protein-protein networks, and functional characterization of user-uploaded gene/measurement sets. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49: D605-12.
21. Vella D, Marini S, Vitali F, et al. MTGO: PPI network analysis via topological and functional module identification. Sci Rep 2018; 8: 5499.
22. Isali I, McClellan P, Wong TR, et al. A systematic review and in silico study of potential genetic markers implicated in cases of overactive bladder. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2023; 228: 36-47.
23. Kanehisa M, Goto S. KEGG: kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes. Nucleic Acids Res 2000; 28: 27-30.
24. Martino E, Chiarugi S, Margheriti F, et al. Mapping, structure and modulation of PPI. Front Chem 2021; 9: 718405.
25. Yin X, Wang P, Yang T, et al. Identification of key modules and genes associated with breast cancer prognosis using WGCNA and ceRNA network analysis. Aging (Albany NY) 2021; 13: 2519-38.
26. Lin CY, Lee TL, Chiu YY, et al. Module organization and variance in protein-protein interaction networks. Sci Rep 2015; 5: 9386.
27. Lazareva O, Baumbach J, List M, et al. On the limits of active module identification. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22: bbab066.
28. Wu Y, Liu X, Li G. Integrated bioinformatics and network pharmacology to identify the therapeutic target and molecular mechanisms of Huangqin decoction on ulcerative colitis. Sci Rep 2022; 12: 159.
29. Liu Z, Li J, Wang K, et al. Association between TGF-β1 polymorphisms and asthma susceptibility among the Chinese: a meta-analysis. Genet Test Mol Biomarkers 2018; 22: 433-42.
30. Racanelli AC, Kikkers SA, Choi AMK, et al. Autophagy and inflammation in chronic respiratory disease. Autophagy 2018; 14: 221-32.
31. Wang S, Wuniqiemu T, Tang W, et al. Luteolin inhibits autophagy in allergic asthma by activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling and inhibiting Beclin-1-PI3KC3 complex. Int Immunopharmacol 2021; 94: 107460.
32. Liu FC. Study on the effect and mechanism of inhibiting PIK3C3 and PI3K pathway on self-renewal of liver cancer stem cells. Chongqing: Chongqing Medical University 2020: 1-120.
33. Xi JH, Huang KT, Wang ZW, et al. Research status of PI3K/Akt signal pathway regulating airway mucus hypersecretion in asthma. Zhong Guo Lin Chuang Yao Li Xue Za Zhi 2022; 38: 2779-82.
34. Chan HHL, Ng T. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and allergic diseases. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep 2020; 20: 67.
35. Shannon P, Markiel A, Ozier O, et al. Cytoscape: a software environment for integrated models of biomolecular interaction networks. Genome Res 2003; 13: 2498-504.
Options
Outlines

/

〈 〉