Multi-target pharmacological mechanisms of Iris tectorum Maxim. (CSG) against tonsillitis and dyspepsia: A network pharmacology approach

Iris tectorum Maxim. (CSG) is a notable traditional Chinese medicinal herb recognized for its broad pharmacological activities, indicating potential therapeutic effects in treating tonsillitis and dyspepsia. This study employed a network pharmacology approach to elucidate the shared mechanisms of CSG in the treatment of tonsillitis and dyspepsia. First, potential targets of CSG were predicted. Second, disease-related genes for tonsillitis and dyspepsia were retrieved from public databases. Third, a protein-protein interaction network was constructed and analyzed using gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes. Finally, molecular docking was performed to validate key targets. The main active components of CSG included tectoridin, tectorigenin, rhamnocitrin, and rhamnazin, with 1148 key targets identified. We found 14 shared target genes between CSG and the 2 diseases. Using Cytoscape for analysis, we created a network diagram with 66 nodes. Molecular docking revealed that serine/threonine-protein kinase 1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1, epidermal growth factor receptor, vascular endothelial growth factor A, and phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1 are likely involved in CSG's multi-target effects. The potential pathways of CSG in treating tonsillitis and dyspepsia involve the regulation of endogenous deoxyribonuclease activity, nucleotide excision repair, and DNA damage recognition, among other biological processes. These findings suggest that CSG's potential effects on tonsillitis and dyspepsia may involve multi-compound, multi-target, and multi-pathway mechanisms, providing preliminary mechanistic insights for future research.