A systematic pharmacology-based in vivo study to reveal the effective mechanism of Yupingfeng in asthma treatment

Background: The clinical effect of Yupingfeng (YPF) has been confirmed in asthma patients, however, it lacks a study to verify its pharmacological mechanism.

Hypothesis/purpose: To reveal the molecular basis and potential pharmacological mechanism of YPF in the treatment of asthma.

Study design and methods: First, a systems pharmacology-based method integrating pharmacokinetic screening, target prediction, network analyses, GO and KEGG analyses were used for the systematic deciphering of the mechanism of YPF in asthma. Second, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between asthma patients and healthy controls were identified by GEO2R online tool. Third, based on systems pharmacology and DEGs results, molecular docking was performed utilizing the Discovery Studio 2020 Client version to detect the binding capacity between compounds and targets. Finally, ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged C57BL/6 mice were treated with YPF or its effective compound to assess the predictions.

Results: A total of 35 active compounds were filtered out, with 87 potential targets being identified for further analysis after target fishing and matching. Quercetin, kaempferol, and wogonin were identified as the main ingredients in YPF. The signaling pathways of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-17 were identified as the top signaling pathways in KEGG enrichment analysis. GEO2R tools of NCBI discovered five DEGs that overlapped with the therapeutic targets of YPF. Wogonin was proven to be the top active compound in YPF through the results of molecular docking. In vivo experiments indicated that YPF and wogonin significantly attenuated airway resistance and lung inflammation by decreasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines and key factors in PI3K/AKT, IL-17, and TNF signaling pathways.

Conclusions: YPF and its main active compound wogonin may exert some therapeutic effects on asthma inflammation through multiple molecular targets and signaling pathways including PI3K/AKT, IL-17 and TNF-α.