Deciphering the Molecular Mechanism of Escin against Neuropathic Pain: A Network Pharmacology Study

Escin is the main active component in Aesculus hippocastanum. It has been demonstrated that escin has anti-inflammatory properties. This study combined the methods of network pharmacology, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics to explore the molecular mechanism of escin against neuropathic pain (NP).

The Swiss Target Prediction and the Pharm Mapper database were employed for predicting the targets of escin. Also, the candidate targets of NP were gathered via the databases including Therapeutic Targets, DisGeNet, GeneCards, DrugBank, and OMIM. Subsequently, the network of protein-protein interaction was screened for the key targets by the software Cytoscape 3.8.0. Then, the intersection of these targets was analysed by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment. Additionally, we further investigated the ligand-target interactions by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations.

In total, 94 escin targets were predicted by network pharmacology. Among them, SRC, MMP9, PTGS2, and MAPK1 were the core candidate targets. Subsequently, the analysis of GO and KEGG enrichment revealed that escin affected NP by regulating protein kinase C, MAP kinase, TRP channels, the T-cell receptors signaling pathway, and the TNF signaling pathway. The results of molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation confirmed that escin not only had a strong binding activity with the four core target proteins but also stably combined in 50 ns.

Our study revealed that escin acts on the core targets SRC, MMP9, PTGS2, MAPK1, and associated enrichment pathways to alleviate neuronal inflammation and regulate the immune response, thus exerting anti-NP efficacy. This study provided innovative ideas and methods for the promising treatment of escin in relieving NP.