Conclusion
In the present study, we integrated a series of methods to conduct a
network pharmacology analysis of the theory and biological mechanism of
traditional Chinese medicine treating COVID-19. We conclude that Chinese
herbal medicine may treat covid-19 by regulating the cell cycle and
immune-related pathways. The five key compounds quercetin, luteolin,
kaempferol, wogonin, and naringenin which are origin from ephedra,
honeysuckle, forsythia and grass fruit have the functions of regulating
various biological processes such as inflammation, immunity, apoptosis,
and blood coagulation, and exhibited the characteristics of
bidirectional regulation. And importantly, the five compounds showed
good docking effects with covid-19. As a common target gene of three
different prescriptions, Rb1 demonstrated the biological essence of
Chinese Medicine treatment of the same disease. In addition, compounds
from one same herb showed similar or different regulatory pathways,
suggesting the role of TCM prescriptions in regulating the overall
functions of pathogens and the host environment. To sum up, this study
provided the biological mechanism of TCM for the treatment of covid-19,
and found that five compounds showed the potential to be developed into
targeted drugs for COVID-19.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization and writing: L.L; Network
pharmacology analysis: J.CH; Supervision L.F. Lixing Liu and Jinyuan
Chang contributed equally in this study.
Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable.
Funding: This study was funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Grant (Grant number: 2019M650575) ; Beijing Science and Technology
Commission ”Research and Development of Ten Diseases and Ten Drugs”
Project (Grant number: Z171100001717017).
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the medical workers all over the world for
their sacrifices and contributions in the fight against the COVID-19
pandemic.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.