Screening Traditional Chinese Medicine Combination for Cotreatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Network Pharmacology

Integrating traditional Chinese Medicine reduced the risk of hip fracture in patients with dementia

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE

The high incidence of hip fracture is an important problem among dementia patients because of their higher risk of falls and balance deficits due to a lack of physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy could reduce the risk of hip fracture in dementia patients.

METHODS

We identified 38,071 patients who were first diagnosed with dementia from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2017, from the database of the 2000 Longitudinal Generation Tracking Database (LGTD 2000) provided by the Health and Welfare Data Science Center (HWDC) in Taiwan. Patients who received TCM treatment after the initial diagnosis of dementia were assigned to the TCM group, and patients who never received TCM treatment were assigned to the non-TCM group. After performing 1:1 propensity score matching (1:1) based on age, sex, comorbidities and medication between the TCM and non-TCM groups, there were 902 patients in each group. Patients were followed up to December 31, 2018, and incidences of hip fracture after the initial diagnosis of dementia between the two groups were compared with Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

Ninety-four patients in the non-TCM group (10.42%) and 58 patients in the TCM group (6.43%) suffered from hip fracture during the follow-up period. Patients in the TCM group had a lower incidence of hip fracture than those in the non-TCM group (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.54, 95% confidence interval = 0.38-0.76).

CONCLUSIONS

Integrating TCM health care for dementia patients might reduce the risk of hip fracture.

Effects of gastrodin on the expression of brain aging-related genes in SAM/P-8 mice based on network pharmacology

Background

Gastrodin can reduce neuronal damage through multiple targets and pathways, and can be useful in preventing and treating degenerative lesions of the central nervous system, but the specific mechanism has not been elucidated.

Methods

The aging-related genes in the hippocampus and the frontal cortex were detected in adult and aged mice treated with gastrodin or not. In addition, we collected the target genes of gastrodin and aging from a network database, and a Venn diagram was created to obtain the intersection target genes of gastrodin and aging. Then, the String database was used to analyze the protein-protein interactions (PPIs) between aging-related genes and the target genes of gastrodin and aging. The "drug-disease-target-pathway" network was constructed using Cytoscape 3.7.2 software, and the main mechanism and pathway of key genes were analyzed by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO). Finally, the reliability of these key genes was further verified by molecular docking technology.

Results

The results showed that 6 out of 10 genes related to brain aging were differentially expressed after gastrodin intervention. Moreover, there were 11 key genes between gastrodin and differentially expressed genes related to brain aging. GO and KEGG results suggested that material metabolism and carbohydrate digestion and absorption were associated with the pathological mechanism of gastrodin antiaging. Molecular docking results also confirmed the good binding activity of gastrodin to the key genes.

Conclusion

Gastrodin plays a potential role in antiaging by regulating substance metabolism and carbohydrate digestion and absorption.

Screening Traditional Chinese Medicine Combination for Co-Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Major Depressive Disorder by Network Pharmacology

Background: Due to their close relationship, the efficacy of major depressive disorder (MDD) drugs in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has received widespread attention in recent years. Methods: In this study, we explored the potential therapeutic value of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and multitarget components on both MDD and AD by using a comprehensive strategy with network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. Results: In total, 234 MDD-related TCM prescriptions were analyzed and the 10 most commonly used Chinese herbs, correlating to 198 active ingredients, were identified. Through a comparative analysis of 144 prospective ingredient targets, 1095 MDD-related targets, and 1684 AD-related targets, network pharmacology identified 30 common targets, 9 key targets, and 7 representative compounds. The results of GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that common targets were required to regulate multiple pathways related to MDD and AD. In addition, network analysis demonstrated that the combination of Xiangfu (Cyperi Rhizoma)-Gancao (Licorice)-Chaihu (Radix Bupleuri) constituted the major part of the representative ingredients and could be used to treat both diseases. Moreover, ALB, AKT1, ESR1, CASP3, and NOS3 were also chosen as prospective targets for synthetic multitarget ingredient screening. Further docking studies revealed that various natural chemicals exhibited binding affinity with the 5 targets, including quercetin, kaempferol, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, isorhamnetin, naringenin, and 8-isopentenyl-kaempferol. Conclusion: Taken as a whole, the current study indicates a TCM combination with positive advantages in the combined treatment of AD and MDD.