Mechanism of E Lian Granule Reversing Chronic Atrophic Gastritis With Intestinal Metaplasia Based on Integrated Pharmacology and GEO Gene Chip

Abstract Background: This study aimed to explore the main components and targets of E-Lian granule through which it reversed chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia, based on the traditional Chinese Medicine Integrated Pharmacology Network Computing Research Platform V2.0 (TCMIP V2.0) combined with GEO gene chips. It also aimed to construct various networks to predict and analyze the mechanism of E-Lian granule in treating gastric precancerous lesions. Methods: The effective traditional Chinese medicine components and targets of E-Lian granule prescription were obtained using TCMIP V2.0. The disease targets were collected using the TCMIP V2.0 platform and the verified gene chips in the GEO database, and the “drug components–targets” network, “compound–targets protein interaction network,” and “core compound targets–pathways network” were constructed using Cytoscape 3.6.1. The reliability of the predicted components and targets was verified using Pymol 1.7.2.1 and Autodock Vina 1.1.2 reverse molecular docking. Results: A total of 262 unique active components and 680 potential active targets of E-Lian granule were obtained. Moreover, 2247 unique disease targets of chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia were obtained by searching the “Disease/Symptom Target Database” combined with the GEO chip (GSE78523) and GeneCard database. Further, 178 complex targets and 38 complex core targets were obtained using Venn and Filter, respectively, such as ALB, TNF, PTGS2, RHOA, ESR1, HRAS, JUN, FOS, CASP3 and so forth. The GO and KEGG nrichment analyses showed that E-Lian granule reversed gastric precancerous lesions not only through the direct intervention of the cancer pathway, gastric cancer pathway, and epithelial signal transduction in Helicobacter pylori infection but also through PI3K/AKT, VEGF, MAPK, cAMP, cGMP, Th1/Th2,and other pathways. It also had a significant correlation with cholinergic, 5-hydroxytryptamine, dopaminergic, and other gastrointestinal hormone-related signals. Finally, the core target verified in the GSE78523 chip was successfully used to dock with the active components of E-Lian granules. The reliability of the prediction was also verified. Conclusions: The components and molecular mechanism of E-Lian granule in reversing chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia were predicted by integrated pharmacology, GEO chip, and reverse molecular docking, providing an important theoretical basis for further study of the effective substances and mechanism of E-Lian granule in treating chronic atrophic gastritis.