Dissecting the novel mechanism of reduning injection in treating Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) based on network pharmacology and experimental verification

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.113871
• Publication Date: 2021-01-22T11:22:56Z
• Authors: Shanshan Jia; Hua Luo; Xinkui Liu; Xiaotian Fan; Zhihong Huang; Shan Lu; Liangliang Shen; Siyu Guo; Yingying Liu; Zhenzhong Wang; Liang Cao; Zeyu Cao; Xinzhuang Zhang; Wei Zhou; Jingyuan Zhang; Jialin Li; Jiarui Wu; Wei Xiao
• Keywords: Coronavirus; IC50; Vero cell

Reduning injection (RDNI) is a patented Traditional Chinese medicine that contains three herbal medicines, respectively are the dry aboveground part of Artemisia annua L., flower Lonicera japonica Thunb., and fruit Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis. RDNI has been recommended for treating Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in "New Pneumonia Diagnosis Treatment Plan".To elucidate verify underlying mechanisms treatment COVID-19.This study firstly performed anti-SARS-CoV-2 experiments Vero E6 cells. Then, network pharmacology combined with molecular docking was adopted to explore potential COVID-19. After that, western blot cytokine chip were used validate predictive results.We concluded half toxic concentration drug CC50 (dilution ratio) = 1:1280, 2.031 mg crude drugs/mL (0.047 solid content/mL) effective (EC50) (diluted multiples) 1:25140.3, EC50 103.420 μg (2.405 content/mL). We found can mainly regulate targets like carbonic anhydrases (CAs), matrix metallopeptidases (MMPs) pathways PI3K/AKT, MAPK, Forkhead box O s T cell receptor signaling reduce lung damage. verified could effectively inhibit overexpression MAPKs, PKC p65 nuclear factor-κB. The also affect levels, inflammation display antipyretic activity.RDNI ACE2, Mpro PLP COVID-19 may be related modulation levels its activity by regulating expression factor NF-κB.