Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification Strategies to Illustrate the Mechanism of Jian-Pi-Yi-Shen Formula in Suppressing Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Jian-Pi-Yi-Shen formula alleviates renal fibrosis by restoring NAD+ biosynthesis in vivo and in vitro

BACKGROUND

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) lack efficacious treatment. Jian-Pi-Yi-Shen formula (JPYSF) has demonstrated significant clinical efficacy in treating CKD for decades. However, its renoprotective mechanism has not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to determine whether JPYSF could delay renal fibrosis progression in CKD by restoring nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) biosynthesis.

METHODS

Adenine-diet feeding was used to model CKD in C57BL/6 mice. JPYSF was orally administered for 4 weeks. Human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) cells were stimulated with transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) with or without JPYSF treatment. Renal function of mice was assessed by serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. Renal histopathological changes were assessed using Periodic acid-Schiff and Masson's trichrome staining. Cell viability was assessed using a cell counting kit-8 assay. NAD+ concentrations were detected by a NAD+/NADH assay kit. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence were employed to examine fibrosis-related proteins and key NAD+ biosynthesis enzymes expression in the CKD kidney and TGF-β1-induced HK-2 cells.

RESULTS

JPYSF treatment could not only improve renal function and pathological injury but also inhibit renal fibrosis in CKD mice. Additionally, JPYSF reversed fibrotic response in TGF-β1-induced HK-2 cells. Moreover, JPYSF rescued the decreased NAD+ content in CKD mice and TGF-β1-induced HK-2 cells through restoring expression of key enzymes in NAD+ biosynthesis, including quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase, nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 1, and nicotinamide riboside kinase 1.

CONCLUSIONS

JPYSF alleviated renal fibrosis in CKD mice and reversed fibrotic response in TGF-β1-induced HK-2 cells, which may be related to the restoration of NAD+ biosynthesis.

The potential mechanism of huazhuojiedu decoction in the treatment of ulcerative colitis based on network pharmacology and experimental validation

Huazhuojiedu decoction (HZJDD), a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has been clinically proven to be an effective treatment for ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the mechanism of HZJDD in the treatment of UC remains unclear. This study combined network pharmacology with experimental validation to explore the potential mechanism of HZJDD on UC. First, the relationship network diagrams between HZJDD and UC were established based on multiple databases. Then, the HZJDD-UC intersection genes target network was constructed and Gene Ontology-Biological processes (GO-BP) analysis was performed to discover the potential pharmacological mechanism. Finally, the results of GO-BP were verified in dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) induced UC rats. The network pharmacology results showed that 119 active components and 146 potential targets were screened for HZJDD, and six of the top 15 biological processes belonged to inflammatory response, cellular response to hypoxia, and cellular response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The GO-BP results indicated that the mechanism of HZJDD treatment of UC was related to inflammation, oxidative stress, and the regulation of LPS. Animal experiments showed that HZJDD could significantly reduce the disease activity index (DAI) score, improve colon length, and effectively repair the histomorphological and micromorphological changes in DSS-induced UC rats. Moreover, HZJDD reduced the expressions of CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, LPS, IL-1β, and IL-18; downregulated the activity of MDA; and upregulated the activities of CAT, GSH, and SOD in DSS-induced UC rats. Furthermore, HZJDD suppressed the expression of the NLRP3/caspase-1 signaling pathway at the gene and protein levels to inhibit pyroptosis. Network pharmacology and animal experiments showed that HZJDD exerted a therapeutic effect on DSS-induced UC rats by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and restraining the NLRP3/caspase-1 signaling pathway to inhibit pyroptosis.

Heidihuangwan alleviates renal fibrosis in rats with 5/6 nephrectomy by inhibiting autophagy

Renal fibrosis is a common pathway for the progression of various chronic kidney diseases (CKD), and the formation and deterioration will eventually lead to end-stage renal failure, which brings a heavy medical burden to the world. HeidihuangWan (HDHW) is a herbal formulation with stable and reliable clinical efficacy in the treatment of renal fibrosis. However, the mechanism of HDHW in treating renal fibrosis is not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mechanism of HDHW to improve renal fibrosis. Wistar rats were randomly divided into the normal control group, 5/6 Nephrectomy group, astragaloside IV (AS-IV) group, HDHW group, and HDHW + IGF-1R inhibitor (JB1) group. Except for the normal control group, the rat renal fibrosis model was established by 5/6 nephrectomy and intervened with drugs for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected to evaluate renal function. Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE), Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS), Modified Masson’s Trichrome (Masson) staining were used to evaluate the pathological renal injury, and immunohistochemistry and Western blotting were used to detect the protein expression of renal tissue. The results showed that HDHW was effective in improving renal function and reducing renal pathological damage. HDHW down-regulated the levels of fibrosis marker proteins, including α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), vimentin, and transforming growth factors–β(TGF-β), which in turn reduced renal fibrosis. Further studies showed that HDHW down-regulated the expression of autophagy-related proteins Beclin1 and LC3II, indicating that HDHW inhibited autophagy. In addition, we examined the activity of the class I phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/serine-threonine kinase (Akt)/mTOR pathway, an important signaling pathway regulating autophagy, and the level of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), an upstream activator of PI3K/Akt/mTOR. HDHW upregulated the expression of IGF-1 and activated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, which may be a vital pathway for its inhibition of autophagy. Application of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) inhibitor further confirmed that the regulation of autophagy and renal fibrosis by HDHW was associated with IGF-1-mediated activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. In conclusion, our study showed that HDHW inhibited autophagy by upregulating IGF-1 expression, promoting the binding of IGF-1 to IGF-1R, and activating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, thereby reducing renal fibrosis and protecting renal function. This study provides support for the application and further study of HDHW.

Oroxylin A ameliorates AKI-to-CKD transition through maintaining PPARα-BNIP3 signaling-mediated mitochondrial homeostasis

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs in approximately 7–18% of all hospitalizations, but there are currently no effective drug therapy for preventing AKI or delaying its progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Recent studies have shown that Scutellaria baicalensis, a traditional Chinese herb, could attenuate cisplatin-induced AKI, although the mechanism remains elusive. Further, it is unknown whether its major active component, Oroxylin A (OA), can alleviate kidney injury.

Methods: The therapeutic effect of OA was evaluated by using ischemia-reperfusion (IR) and cisplatin mediated-AKI mice and HK-2 cells under hypoxia-reoxygenation (HR) conditions. HE staining, transmission electron microscopy, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, qPCR, Western blot, PPARα inhibitor, BNIP3 siRNA and ChIP assay were used to explore the role and mechanism of OA in AKI.

Results: OA ameliorated tubular damage and dramatically decreased serum creatinine (Scr) and urea nitrogen (BUN), and the expressions of renal injury markers (Kim-1, Ngal) in AKI mice induced by both IR injury and cisplatin, as well as attenuating AKI-to-CKD transition. In vitro experiments showed that OA alleviated HR-induced mitochondrial homeostasis imbalance in renal tubular epithelial cells. Mechanistically, OA dose-dependently induced the expression of Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa interacting protein (BNIP3), while knockdown of BNIP3 expression reversed the protection of OA against HR-mediated mitochondrial injury. Network pharmacological analysis and experimental validation suggested that OA enhanced BNIP3 expression via upregulating the expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (PPARα), which induced the transcription of BNIP3 via directly binding to its promoter region. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments confirmed that the renoprotective effect of OA was dramatically reduced by GW6471, a PPARα antagonist.

Conclusion: Our findings revealed that OA ameliorates AKI-to-CKD transition by maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis through inducing PPARα-BNIP3 signaling pathway, indicating that OA may serve as a candidate therapeutic strategy for alleviating AKI and CKD.