Chinese herbal compound prescription for Endometriosis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

TCMM: A unified database for traditional Chinese medicine modernization and therapeutic innovations

Mining the potential of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating modern diseases requires a profound understanding of its action mechanism and a comprehensive knowledge system that seamlessly bridges modern medical insights with traditional theories. However, existing databases for modernizing TCM are plagued by varying degrees of information loss, which impede the multidimensional dissection of pharmacological effects. To address this challenge, we introduce traditional Chinese medicine modernization (TCMM), the currently largest modernized TCM database that integrates pioneering intelligent pipelines. By aligning high-quality TCM and modern medicine data, TCMM boasts the most extensive TCM modernization knowledge, including 20 types of modernized TCM concepts such as prescription, ingredient, target and 46 biological relations among them, totaling 3,447,023 records. We demonstrate the efficacy and reliability of TCMM with two features, prescription generation and knowledge discovery, the outcomes show consistency with biological experimental results. A publicly available web interface is at https://www.tcmm.net.cn/.

Network pharmacology and experimental validation to explore the potential mechanism of Sanjie Zhentong Capsule in endometriosis treatment

PURPOSE

Sanjie Zhentong Capsule (SZC) is gradually becoming widely used in the treatment of endometriosis (EMs) and has demonstrated an excellent curative effect in the clinic. However, the active components and mechanisms of Sanjie Zhentong Capsule (SZC) in the treatment of endometriosis (EMs) remain unclear, and further research is needed to explore the effects of Sanjie Zhentong Capsule (SZC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

First, a drug target database of Sanjie Zhentong capsule (SZC) was established by consulting the TCMSP database and related literature. An endometriosis (EMs) disease target database was then established by consulting the GeneCards, OMIM and Drug Bank databases. The overlapping genes of SZC and EMs were determined, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs), gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Gene and Genome Encyclopedia (KEGG) analyses were performed to predict the potential therapeutic mechanisms. Molecular docking was used to observe whether the key active ingredients and targets predicted by network pharmacology had good binding energy. Finally, in vitro experiments such as CCK-8, flow cytometry and RT-PCR assays were carried out to preliminarily verify the potential mechanisms.

RESULTS

Through the construction of a pharmacological network, we identified a total of 28 active components in SZC and 52 potential therapeutic targets. According to GO and KEGG enrichment analyses, the effects of SZC treatment may be related to oxidative stress, steroid metabolism, apoptosis and proliferation. We also experimentally confirmed that SZC can regulate the expression of steroid hormone biosynthesis-related genes, inhibit ectopic endometrial stromal cell (EESC) proliferation and oxidative stress, and promote apoptosis.

CONCLUSION

This study explored the potential mechanism of SZC in the treatment of EMs through network pharmacology and experiments, providing a basis for further future research on SZC in the treatment of EMs.

Effect assessment of laparoscopy in combination with traditional Chinese medicine decoction in the treatment of endometriosis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Endometriosis (EMs) affects about 10% of women of childbearing age. It is defined as functional endometrial tissue appearing in other parts of the uterine cavity, manifested by varying degrees of pelvic pain and pelvic mass, etc. Therefore, to improve the therapeutic effect of endometriosis, we must constantly explore new ways to treat the disease. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the combined use of laparoscopy and traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of patients with EMs.

METHODS

A systematic literature search will be conducted at China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang databases, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane library. The search period limit is from the time the date of database establishment to June 21, 2021. To ensure the comprehensiveness of the search, relevant references and conference literature are also included. The risk of bias in the final included studies will be evaluated based on the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The RevMan software will be employed to perform data synthesis and statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic surgery combined with traditional Chinese medicine decoction in the treatment of patients with EMs will be systematically evaluated.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study will provide strong evidence for judging whether laparoscopy combined with traditional Chinese medicine decoction is an effective strategy for the treatment of patients with EMs.