Systematic elucidation of the mechanism of geraniol via network pharmacology

• Published in: Drug design, development and therapy Vol. 13; pp. 1069 - 1075
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yun-Fei, Huang, Yue, Ni, Yi-Hua, Xu, Zheng-Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Acids; Acyclic Monoterpenes; Alcohols; Asian medicine; Bioavailability; Chemical plants; Chinese medicine; Comparative analysis; Databases, Pharmaceutical; druggability; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - chemistry; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology; Encyclopedias; enrichment analysis; Essential oils; Genes; Genomes; Genomics; Geraniol; Herbal medicine; Humans; Identification; Inflammation; Inflammation - drug therapy; Inflammation - genetics; Inflammation - immunology; Investigations; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Metabolism; Molecular Structure; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - genetics; network pharmacology; Ontology; Original Research; Permeability; Pharmacology; Physiological aspects; Proteins; Proteomics; target prediction; Target recognition; Terpenes - chemistry; Terpenes - pharmacology; Traditional Chinese medicine; China; target prediction; druggability; geraniol; network pharmacology; enrichment analysis
• ISSN: 1177-8881; 1177-8881
• DOI: 10.2147/DDDT.S189088

Geraniol is an acyclic monoterpene alcohol, which is extracted from the ethereal oils of aromatic plants. A systematic analysis of its mechanism of action has not yet been carried out. In this study, the druggability of geraniol was assessed via Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP), and the potential targets of geraniol were identified using the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Additionally, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed using WebGestalt. Drug-target-pathway networks were constructed using Cytoscape to give a visual view. Our findings showed that geraniol has superb druggability with 38 putative identified target genes. GO, KEGG, and network analyses revealed that these targets were associated with cancer, inflammatory immunoreactions, and other physiological processes. Geraniol is predicted to target multiple proteins and pathways that shape a network which can exert systematic pharmacological effects.