Abstract Arthritis remains a pervasive global health challenge characterised by chronic inflammation, joint stiffness, and cartilage degradation, often necessitating the long-term use of conventional pharmacotherapeutic agents that carry significant side effects. This study investigated the mechanism of the anti-arthritic potential of Aframomum -derived compounds using network pharmacology and molecular docking approaches. Phytochemicals from the Aframomum genus were screened for drug-like properties using SwissADME. Potential biological targets of these compounds were predicted using the SwissTargetPrediction tool. The arthritis-related genes were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and were matched with the predicted genes using the bioinformatics and genome web tool. A protein-protein interaction network of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was constructed using the STRING web tool and further analysed in Cytoscape to identify the hub genes. The interaction of essential bioactive Aframomum compounds and selected hub targets of arthritis was simulated using molecular docking. Of the 111 compounds, 110 showed drug-like properties with 1043 biological targets, while the GEO identified 723 arthritis-related genes. A total of 67 DEGs, representing potential therapeutic targets with CXCL8, IL-6, JUN, PTGS2 and STAT1 as top hub genes, were identified. Functional enrichment analysis using ShinyGO and KEGG databases demonstrated involvement of these genes in the arthritic pathway. Specifically, galanolactone, oleanolic acid, nerolidol, zambesiacolactone A and B were identified as key Aframomum compounds interacting with these hub genes. Molecular docking simulations showed that core hub targets of arthritis, such as human IL6 and PTGS2, bound strongly with oleanolic acid and zambesiacolactones with sub-nanomolar inhibition constants (Ki < 1 nm). The study showed that Aframomum phytochemicals exert their anti-arthritic effect via a multi-target and multi-pathway mechanism, providing a computational validation of their traditional ethnomedicinal use.
Sunday et al. (Sun,) studied this question.