Prescription regularity and pharmacodynamics mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in autoimmune hepatitis: A data mining and network pharmacology study

This study aims to provide a basis and reference for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) by exploring the prescription patterns of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and predicting the potential mechanisms of core TCM formula. Literature on AIH treated with TCM for was retrieved from WANFANG DATA, China national knowledge infrastructure, and CQVIP databases. The herbals listed in all the prescriptions were analyzed for frequency, correlation, association, and clustering, to filter out the core TCM formula for treating AIH. The core herbals included in the core TCM formula were selected to construct an intersection target network of core herbals-active ingredients-disease-related targets. Gene ontology enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were then conducted to reveal the potential mechanism of the core TCM formula in treating AIH. A total of 122 Chinese herbal compound prescriptions involving 196 Chinese herbals were included in this study. These herbals were mostly sweet or bitter in taste, cold in property, and restoring the liver and spleen meridian. Based on the results of frequency, correlation rules, and clustering, the combination of "Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz.-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Cynanchum otophyllum Schneid-Bupleuri Radix-Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf." was considered as the core TCM formula in treat AIH, which contains 113 active ingredients (including quercetin, kaempferol, naringenin, licochalcone A, and formononetin) and 138 AIH-related targets (involving TP53, AKT1, JUN, STAT3). Moreover, the targets regulated by the core TCM formula are mainly enriched in the biological processes, such as cellular response to lipids, response to inorganic substances, response to hormones, and IL-17 signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. The core TCM formula "Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz.-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Cynanchum otophyllum Schneid-Bupleuri Radix-Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf." may have a good potential in treating AIH and is worthy of exploring further to develop innovative drugs for this disorder.