Investigation of pathogenesis and therapeutic targets of acute myeloid leukemia based on untargeted plasma metabolomics and network pharmacology approach

Network pharmacology: a bright guiding light on the way to explore the personalized precise medication of traditional Chinese medicine

Network pharmacology can ascertain the therapeutic mechanism of drugs for treating diseases at the level of biological targets and pathways. The effective mechanism study of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) characterized by multi-component, multi-targeted, and integrative efficacy, perfectly corresponds to the application of network pharmacology. Currently, network pharmacology has been widely utilized to clarify the mechanism of the physiological activity of TCM. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the application of network pharmacology in TCM to reveal its potential of verifying the phenotype and underlying causes of diseases, realizing the personalized and accurate application of TCM. We searched the literature using "TCM network pharmacology" and "network pharmacology" as keywords from Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, as well as Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure in the last decade. The origins, development, and application of network pharmacology are closely correlated with the study of TCM which has been applied in China for thousands of years. Network pharmacology and TCM have the same core idea and promote each other. A well-defined research strategy for network pharmacology has been utilized in several aspects of TCM research, including the elucidation of the biological basis of diseases and syndromes, the prediction of TCM targets, the screening of TCM active compounds, and the decipherment of mechanisms of TCM in treating diseases. However, several factors limit its application, such as the selection of databases and algorithms, the unstable quality of the research results, and the lack of standardization. This review aims to provide references and ideas for the research of TCM and to encourage the personalized and precise use of Chinese medicine.

Analysis of the Inhibitory Effect of hsa-miR-145-5p and hsa-miR-203a-5p on Imatinib-Resistant K562 Cells by GC/MS Metabolomics Method

Imatinib (IM) resistance is considered to be a significant challenge in the management of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Previous studies have reported that hsa-miR-145-5p and hsa-miR-203a-5p can overcome IM resistance and hsa-miR-203a-5p can alter glutathione metabolism in IM-resistant cells. The purpose of this study was to examine whether hsa-miR-145-5p or hsa-miR-203a-5p counters IM resistance by targeting the overall metabolic profile of IM-resistant K562 cells. The metablic profiling of cell lysates obtained from IM-sensitive, IM-resistant, and miR-transfected IM-resistant K562 cells was carried out using the GC-MS technique. Overall, 75 major metabolites were detected, of which 32 were present in all samples. The pathway analysis of MetaboAnalyst 5.0 revealed that the majorly enriched pathways included glucose metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, lipogenesis, and nucleotide metabolism. Eleven of identified metabolites, l-glutamine, l-glutamic acid, l-lactic acid, phosphoric acid, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, 9-octadecenoic acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, cholesterol, and β-alanine, appeared in enriched pathways. IM-resistant cells had comparatively higher concentrations of all of these metabolites. Notably, the introduction of hsa-miR-145-5p or hsa-miR-203a-5p into resistant cells resulted in a decrease in levels of these metabolites. The efficacy of miR-203a-5p was particularly remarkable in comparison with miR-145-5p, as evidenced by partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), which showed a high level of similarity in metabolic profile between IM-sensitive K562 cells and IM-resistant cells transfected with hsa-miR-203a-5p. The results indicate that GC-MS-based metabolic profiling has the potential to distinguish between drug-resistant and -sensitive cells. This approach can also be used to routinely monitor therapeutic response in drug-resistant patients, thus, enabling personalized therapy.

Mechanisms exploration of Terrestrosin D on pulmonary fibrosis based on plasma metabolomics and network pharmacology

Terrestrosin D (TED) is the active ingredient of Tribulus terrestris L., which is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulations and has a wide range of pharmacological activities. A previous study showed that TED alleviated bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis (PF) in mice. However, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of TED are still unclear and need further investigation. In this study, we evaluated the effect of TED in a mice of BLM-induced PF in terms of histopathological and biochemical indices. UHPLC-MS-based plasma metabolomics combined with network pharmacology was used to explore the pathological basis of PF and the mechanism of action of TED. Histological and biochemical analyses showed that TED mitigated inflammatory injury in the lungs, especially at the dosage of 20 mg/kg. Furthermore, BLM changed the plasma metabolite profile in the mice, which was reversed by TED via regulation of amino acid and lipid metabolism. Subsequently, a biomarkers-targets-disease network was constructed, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 were identified as the putative therapeutic targets of TED. Both factors were quantitatively analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Taken together, the combination of UHPLC-MS-based metabolomics and network pharmacology can unveil the mechanisms of diseases and drug action.

Molecular Mechanism Investigation on Monomer Kaempferol of the Traditional Medicine Dingqing Tablet in Promoting Apoptosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia HL-60 Cells

The traditional medicine Dingqing Tablet produces effective efficacy in treating acute myeloid leukemia, but its specific mechanism remains to be investigated. Dingqing Tablet consists of Codonopsis, Indigo Naturalis, Cortex Moutan, Radix Notoginseng, Citrus Reticulata, and Eolite. The active components of Dingqing Tablets were screened by the TCMSP database. Meanwhile, the SwissTargetPrediction database was utilized to predict the corresponding targets. Relevant disease targets of acute myeloid leukemia were obtained from GeneCards. The obtained targets of Dingqing Tablets and genes of acute myeloid leukemia were used, and the overlapped genes were presented in the Venn diagram. A drug-component-target network was constructed via Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. Molecular docking methodology was also used with AutoDock Vina 1.1.2. Furthermore, the effects of kaempferol on the proliferation and apoptosis of HL-60 cells were identified using 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT), 5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EDU), flow cytometry, and TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assays. The combination of kaempferol and AKT1 was verified using an immunoprecipitation (IP) experiment and the effects of Kaempferol on HL-60 cell apoptosis by western blot (WB) and qPCR. The key component kaempferol and the core target gene AKT1 were sorted out using a drug-component target network diagram. Molecular docking results revealed that the binding energy between kaempferol and AKT1 was lower than -5 kcal/mol. MTT and EDU assays indicated that kaempferol markedly inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells. Flow cytometry and TUNEL assays suggested that kaempferol substantially promoted HL-60 cell apoptosis. IP assay results testified that kaempferol could bind to AKT1, thereby reducing the level of P-AKT and promoting HL-60 cell apoptosis. The monomer kaempferol of Dingqing Tablet could promote apoptosis of HL-60 cells, and the mechanism might correlate with the combination of kaempferol and AKT1, reducing the level of P-AKT and promoting the expression of the apoptotic signaling pathway.