Mechanism of Fangji Huangqi decoction against acute kidney injury based on network pharmacology and experimental validation

Background: Fangji Huangqi Decoction (FJHQD), a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula, has been widely applied in improving renal function. However, the interaction of bioactives from FJHQD with the targets involved in acute renal injury (AKI) has not been elucidated yet.

Purpose: A network pharmacology-based approach combined with molecular docking and in vitro and in vivo validation was performed to determine the bioactives, key targets, and potential pharmacological mechanism of FJHQD against AKI.

Materials and methods: The model of mouse renal ischemic reperfusion was adopted to verify the curative effect of FJHQD against renal injury. FJHQD was analyzed and separated by Ultra-High performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). Bioactives and potential targets of FJHQD, as well as AKI-related targets, were retrieved from public databases. Crucial bioactive ingredients, potential targets, and signaling pathways were acquired through bioinformatics analysis, including protein-protein interaction (PPI), as well as the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Subsequently, molecular docking was carried out to predict the combination of active compounds with core targets. Besides, in vivo and vitro experiments were conducted to verify the findings.

Results: A total of 20 bioactive ingredients of FJHQD (top 10 positive ion and negative ion compounds) and 274 FJHQD-AKI overlaped targets were screened. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that apoptosis mediated by PI3K-AKT signaling pathway might play an important role in FJHQD against AKI. Further experiments showed that FJHQD alleviated I/R-induced renal injury and OGD/R induced TEC apoptosis by activating PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Moreover, molecular docking suggested (9Z,12Z,14E)-16-Hydroxy-9,12,14-octadecatrienoic acid, 2-Hydroxyacetophenone, Liquiritigenin, (S)-[10]-Gingerol and Isookanin-7-O-glucoside may be potential candidate agents, among which, PIK3CA interacted with Liquiritigenin, (S)-[10]-Gingerol, Isookanin-7-O-glucoside and 2-Hydroxyacetophenone respectively. AKT1 interacted with (9Z,12Z,14E)-16-Hydroxy-9,12,14-octadecatrienoic acid and 2-Hydroxyacetophenone. Cell experiments showed that the most important ingredient of FJHQD, Liquiritigenin, could inhibit the TEC apoptosis and up-regulate PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, which further confirmed the prediction by network pharmacology strategy and molecular docking.

Conclusion: Our results comprehensively illustrated the bioactives, potential targets, and molecular mechanism of FJHQD against AKI. It also provided a promising strategy to uncover the scientific basis and therapeutic mechanism of TCM formulae in treating diseases.