Network Pharmacology-based Study of Simiao Yongan Decoction for Treatment of Herpes Zoster Infection

Abstract Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) is a virus that causes infectious diseases that impact the quality of life of patients. Herein, we applied network pharmacological methods to predict the target of bioactive components in Simiao Yongan Decoction (SYD) that could treat HZ. Methods: We developed a Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMP) and GenneCards databases for screening of bioactive components of SYD, their targets, and HZ related targets. A bioactive component-target network of SYD was constructed using Cytoscape. We also constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes Database (STRING) to identify potential SYD targets for the treatment of HZ. "ClusterProfiler" in R-project was used for Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. We screened SYD hub genes based on component-target network topological parameters and confirmed the findings by molecular docking. We selected 126 bioactive components and 235 targets. Results: By assessing the topological parameters of the degree network, we identified that CDK2, CASP3, JUN, AKT1, and MAPK1 were hub genes related to SYD-based therapy against HZ. The findings showed that treatment of HZ with SYD mainly involved toll-like receptor, C-type lectin receptor, MAPK, PI3K-Akt, and other signaling pathways. The molecular docking results revealed good binding energy between the SYD bioactive compounds and hub targets. Conclusion: We showed that SYD could effectively treat HZ via multiple targets and pathways. Our results provide theoretical support for treatment of HZ with SYD and a new direction for such treatment using traditional Chinese medicine.