TY - JOUR
T1 - A Network-Based Pharmacology Study of the Herb-Induced Liver Injury Potential of Traditional Hepatoprotective Chinese Herbal Medicines
AU - Hong, Ming
AU - Li, Sha
AU - Tan, Hor Yue
AU - Cheung, Fan
AU - Wang, Ning
AU - Huang, Jihan
AU - Feng, Yibin
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was financially supported by grants from the research council of the University of Hong Kong (Project Codes: 104003422 and 104004092), the Research Grants Committee (RGC) of Hong Kong, HKSAR (Project Code: 106160190), Wong's Donation on Modern Oncology of Chinese Medicine (Project Code: 200006276), Gala Family Trust (Project Code: 200007008) and Government-Matching Grant Scheme (Project Code: 207060411).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors.
PY - 2017/4
Y1 - 2017/4
N2 - Herbal medicines are widely used for treating liver diseases and generally regarded as safe due to their extensive use in Traditional Chinese Medicine practice for thousands of years. However, in recent years, there have been increased concerns regarding the long-term risk of Herb-Induced Liver Injury (HILI) in patients with liver dysfunction. Herein, two representative Chinese herbal medicines: one - Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang (XCHT) - a composite formula, and the other - Radix Polygoni Multiflori (Heshouwu) - a single herb, were analyzed by network pharmacology study. Based on the network pharmacology framework, we exploited the potential HILI effects of XCHT and Heshouwu by predicting the molecular mechanisms of HILI and identified the potential hepatotoxic ingredients in XCHT and Heshouwu. According to our network results, kaempferol and thymol in XCHT and rhein in Heshouwu exhibit the largest number of liver injury target connections, whereby CASP3, PPARG and MCL1 may be potential liver injury targets for these herbal medicines. This network pharmacology assay might serve as a useful tool to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of HILI. Based on the theoretical predictions, further experimental verification should be performed to validate the accuracy of the predicted interactions between herbal ingredients and protein targets in the future.
AB - Herbal medicines are widely used for treating liver diseases and generally regarded as safe due to their extensive use in Traditional Chinese Medicine practice for thousands of years. However, in recent years, there have been increased concerns regarding the long-term risk of Herb-Induced Liver Injury (HILI) in patients with liver dysfunction. Herein, two representative Chinese herbal medicines: one - Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang (XCHT) - a composite formula, and the other - Radix Polygoni Multiflori (Heshouwu) - a single herb, were analyzed by network pharmacology study. Based on the network pharmacology framework, we exploited the potential HILI effects of XCHT and Heshouwu by predicting the molecular mechanisms of HILI and identified the potential hepatotoxic ingredients in XCHT and Heshouwu. According to our network results, kaempferol and thymol in XCHT and rhein in Heshouwu exhibit the largest number of liver injury target connections, whereby CASP3, PPARG and MCL1 may be potential liver injury targets for these herbal medicines. This network pharmacology assay might serve as a useful tool to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of HILI. Based on the theoretical predictions, further experimental verification should be performed to validate the accuracy of the predicted interactions between herbal ingredients and protein targets in the future.
KW - Hepatoprotective Chinese herbal medicines
KW - Herb-Induced Liver Injury
KW - Network pharmacology
KW - Radix Polygoni Multiflori
KW - Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85020202989&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/molecules22040632
DO - 10.3390/molecules22040632
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 28420096
AN - SCOPUS:85020202989
SN - 1420-3049
VL - 22
JO - Molecules
JF - Molecules
IS - 4
M1 - 632
ER -