Network pharmacology based analysis of Astragalus propinquus components for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes

Abstract

Abstract The Astragalus propinquus is used in traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) for centuries. However, its mechanism of action and functional targets remain elusive. The purpose of the study is to conduct a pharmacological network analysis to identify the interaction of A. propinquus derived components with the target proteins involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and diabetes. The chemical components of A. propinquus were obtained from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP), and the target-protein related genes were collected from DisGeNET and GeneCards databases. A total of 16 A. propinquus phytochemical compounds and 147 potential targets were screened for RA and diabetes-related target proteins STRING and Cytoscape software were used to establish the protein interaction networks. Finally, the pharmacological network was integrated to investigate the mechanism underlying the potential target protein network of A. propinquus. The results showed that the A. propinquus derived components such as quercetin, hederagenin, isorhamnetin, calycosin, 7-O-methylisomucronulatol, formononetin, and kaempferol exhibited potential binding efficacy with screened 89 target proteins, suggesting it as one of the natural medicines for the treatment of RA and diabetes. Gene Ontology and KEGG analysis revealed that certain target pathways were involved in RA and diabetes, which are also elaborated in this study. The molecular docking analysis demonstrates that the compound hederagenin acts as a potent inhibitor for RA and diabetics.