Systems Pharmacology Uncovers The Essence Of "Body Fire" In Traditional Chinese Medicine:a Case By Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Tang

Like other concepts in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), "Body fire", a conception that has already been widely accepted and used in the treatment of corresponding diseases in TCM, is, however, still under suspicions in the western medicine due to its vague essence and symptoms. Presently, Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT), a typical popular TCM formula in cleansing the "body fire", is studied as a probe by a systems pharmacology method we produced, with purpose to figure out the mechanisms of the potion, as well as the essence of "body fire" disease. The systematic process includes a pharmacokinetics prescreening, pharmacodynamics targets and pathways identification, and candidate-target-pathway network construction. Through this method, we found that 1) the HLJDT’s cleansing "body fire" effects are mainly due to the actions of 145 candidates, which is interacted with 91 targets and in involved with 4 signaling pathways; 2) the functional mechanisms of HLJDT’s effects on OS/NS, inflammation and infection are at the levels from candidates (the free radical scavenging ability of certain candidates), targets (oxygenases targets, oxygenases-influential proteins, targets in the microorganisms, targets with immune response-enhancing activity and the targets affecting the cytokines) to pathways (signaling pathways).3) Accordingly, the essence of "body fire" is the integration of OS/NS, inflammation and infection. This work may offer a systemic methodology for the explication of the TCM concepts to the western medicine.