Key result
Cassia seed targets 99 shared molecular pathways to drive anti-atherosclerosis effects in network pharmacology analysis.
Why the study?
The active ingredients and potential targets of Cassia Seed for anti-atherosclerosis effects were not fully elucidated using network pharmacology approaches.
Meta-Analysis
Network pharmacology analysis suggests Cassia Seed may exert anti-atherosclerotic effects through multi-component, multi-target mechanisms involving inflammatory and vascular signaling pathways.
Cassia Seed effects remain exploratory; leaves open therapeutic potential in atherosclerosis pending rigorous validation.
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to shed light on the active ingredients and potential targets of Cassia Seed about anti-atherosclerosis based on network pharmacology. METHODS: The active ingredients and potential targets of Cassia Seed were obtained from traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP) and SwissTargetPrediction database. Then, atherosclerosis-related targets were screened via GeneCards, online mendelian inheritance in man, therapeutic target database and DrugBank database. The common targets and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was later identified and built. Furthermore, we used the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery (DAVID) database server to accomplish the enrichment analysis. The compounds-targets-pathways network was ultimately constructed by Cytoscape. RESULTS: A total of 14 active ingredients and 475 related targets were sifted from Cassia Seed. Among 574 potential atherosclerotic targets, there were 99 targets overlapped with those of Cassia Seed. Topological analysis with Cytoscape revealed that proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src, transcription factor AP-1 (JUN), mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8), mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (MAPK14) and catenin beta-1 were considered as the hub gene. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis suggested that the Cassia Seed had the potential to influence varieties of biological processes and pathways, including positive regulation of smooth muscle cell proliferation, inflammatory response, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway and arachidonic acid (ARA) metabolism. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our findings support that anti-atherosclerosis effects of Cassia Seed are characterized by multi-component, multi-target and multi-path mechanism of action.
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Zhang et al. (2022) conducted a meta-analysis in Atherosclerosis. Cassia Seed was evaluated on Active ingredients and potential targets for anti-atherosclerosis. Network pharmacology analysis identified 14 active ingredients and 99 overlapping targets for Cassia Seed in atherosclerosis, highlighting multi-component and multi-pathway mechanisms of action.
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