A Network-Based Pharmacology Study of the Herb-Induced Liver Injury Potential of Traditional Hepatoprotective Chinese Herbal Medicines

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 4; p. 632
• Main Authors: Hong, Ming, Li, Sha, Tan, Hor Yue, Cheung, Fan, Wang, Ning, Huang, Jihan, Feng, Yibin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.04.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury - metabolism; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury - pathology; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - adverse effects; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - chemistry; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology; Health risks; Hepatocytes - drug effects; Hepatocytes - metabolism; Herbal medicine; Herbs; Humans; Ingredients; Kaempferol; Liver; Liver diseases; Mcl-1 protein; Medicine, Chinese Traditional - adverse effects; Models, Biological; Molecular modelling; Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors; Pharmacology; Proteins; Structure-Activity Relationship; Thymol; Herb-Induced Liver Injury; Radix Polygoni Multiflori; Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang; network pharmacology; hepatoprotective Chinese herbal medicines
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules22040632

Herbal medicines are widely used for treating liver diseases and generally regarded as safe due to their extensive use in Traditional Chinese Medicine practice for thousands of years. However, in recent years, there have been increased concerns regarding the long-term risk of Herb-Induced Liver Injury (HILI) in patients with liver dysfunction. Herein, two representative Chinese herbal medicines: one-Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang (XCHT)-a composite formula, and the other- -a single herb, were analyzed by network pharmacology study. Based on the network pharmacology framework, we exploited the potential HILI effects of XCHT and by predicting the molecular mechanisms of HILI and identified the potential hepatotoxic ingredients in XCHT and . According to our network results, kaempferol and thymol in XCHT and rhein in exhibit the largest number of liver injury target connections, whereby CASP3, PPARG and MCL1 may be potential liver injury targets for these herbal medicines. This network pharmacology assay might serve as a useful tool to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of HILI. Based on the theoretical predictions, further experimental verification should be performed to validate the accuracy of the predicted interactions between herbal ingredients and protein targets in the future.