Screening Active ingredients and related targets of JDNW formula
After screening was performed for the OB, CACO-2 and DL, 114 unduplicated compounds were recognized as active ingredients of JDNW formula, including 6 PUs, 3 RRs, 7 PNs, 8 LHs, 18 HMMs, 7 VAHs, 14 TKMs, 11 ALRPs, 3 CRs and 57 RSs. The name, CAS code, and calculation parameter of these ingredients were shown in Table S1. Next, 154 unduplicated targets were recognized as potential targets of JDNW formula, indicating a multiple effect phenomenon. The name of these targets were shown in Table S2.
Ingredient-Target and Target-disease Network Constructions
To further understand the complex interactions between the ingredients and their corresponding targets at a system level, we constructed an ingredient-target network based on the active ingredients of JDNW formula and their potential targets, which contained 254 nodes and 2191 edges (Figure 1a). Based on the relationship between targets and their related liver diseases, a target-disease network was also constructed, which contains 82 nodes and 165 edges (Figure 1b). In detail, the number of liver failure-related targets was 28, indicating a potential therapeutical effect of JDNW formula against liver failure. Besides, JDNW formula was also predicted to treat liver cirrhosis (50 targets), liver cancer (31 targets), fatty liver (31 targets) and hepatitis (25 targets).
GO and KEGG enrichment of ingredient targets
Using Metascape platform, we correlated biological process (BP) annotation with ingredient targets and grouped similar, redundant, and heterogeneous annotation terms into annotation groups according to the co-association of genes in different annotation terms. Terms with P < 0.01 and a minimum count of three were collected and grouped into clusters based on their membership similarities. As shown in Supplementary Figure 1 a and b, targets of JDNW formula were mainly enriched in cellular response to nitrogen compound, neurotransmitter receptor activity, response to toxic substance, chemical synaptic transmission, blood circulation, cellular response to organic cyclic compound, response to xenobiotic stimulus, regulation of neurotransmitter levels, positive regulation of MAPK cascade, response to ammonium ion, reactive oxygen species metabolic process, regulation of ion transport, response to nutrient levels, positive regulation of cellular component movement, response to steroid hormone, response to oxygen levels, regulation of body fluid levels, regulation of secretion, regulation of blood circulation and regulation of growth. As shown in Supplementary Figure 1 c and d, these targets were enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, pathway in cancer, cGMP-OKG signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, serotonergic synapse, endocrine resistance, dopaminergic synapse, cholinergic synapse, gap junction, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450, malaria, thyroid hormone signaling pathway, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, regulation of lipolysis in adipocytes, prion diseases and platelet activation.
Key ingredients against liver failure identification
After annotated related-liver diseases of ingredients targets, we constructed a compound-liver failure-related target interaction network, which contained 130 nodes and 578 edges (Figure 2). After calculating degree values of each nodes, we identified quercetin (degree 24), luteolin (degree 16), kaempferol (degree 16), tanshinone IIA (degree 11), beta-sitosterol (degree 10), isorhamnetin (degree 9), Stigmasterol (degree 9), acacetin (degree 9), dihydrotanshinoneⅠ(degree 9) and 2-isopropyl-8-methylphenanthrene-3,4-dione (degree 9). Compounds more than twice the median of degree values were identified as important ingredients of JDNW formula against liver failure, including quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol.
KEGG enrichment and Protein-protein interaction analysis on intersecting targets of JDNW and liver failure
As shown in Figure 3 a and b, intersecting targets of JDNW and liver failure were enriched in fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, pathways in cancer, IL-17 signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, insulin resistance, toxoplasmosis, prostate cancer, microRNAs in cancer, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, Chemical carcinogenesis, VEGF signaling pathway and complement and coagulation cascades pathways. A PPI network containing 28 nodes and 182 edges was constructed (Figure 3 C). Sorted by degree value, top 10 nodes were TP53 (degree 24), VEGFA (degree 22), IL6 (degree 22), PTGS2 (degree 22), TNF (degree 21), MAPK8 (degree 20), IL1B (degree 17), CCL2 (degree 16), NOS3 (degree 15), PPARG (degree 15). Of note, some hub nodes were parts of NF-kappa B signaling pathway, such as PTGS2, TNF, IL6 and IL1B.
Identification of the DEGs related to quercetin treatment
One quercetin treated PMHs gene expression profile were downloaded from the NCBI GEO database. Afterwards, the gene expression data was normalized and DEGs were identified with the limma R package (P < 0.05 and | log2 FC | > 1), and the results were shown in Figure 4 a and b. We screened out 614 DEGs, including 276 DEGs downregulated and 338 DEGs upregulated. Functional enrichment showed that quercetin involved in apoptotic process, oxidation-reduction process, immune system process and lipid and glucose metabolic process.
Identification of drugs with similar effects by CMAP analysis and molecular docking
The differentially expressed genes in PMH cells treated with quercetin were analyzed in the CMAP database. Connectivity scores close to 100 represent a high degree of positive correlation between the query signature and the reference profile in the CMAP database, which was derived from a specific chemical perturbation. Thus, the query compound may confer similar physiological effects on the cell as the matched chemical substance. In Figure 5 a, the top-ranking chemicals associated with anti-liver failure effect are listed. In CMAP analysis, we found biological action of some NFκB inhibitors was similar to quercetin, including parthenolide (Score:98.45), manumycin-a (Score:92.60), pyrrolidine-dithiocarbamate (Score:92.12).
In order to examine the mode of binding between quercetin and potential IKKβ molecular domains, we carried out a docking model. The observed docking score for quercetin with IKKβ (PDB ID: 4KIK) was -7.21 kcal/mol. Molecular docking visualization showed that quercetin binds to various hydrophobic active site consisting of Glu214, Cys114, Phe219, Gly218, Lys428, Gln432 and Gly431 with hydrogen bonding to Arg220, Arg105, Arg427 and Try571 (Figure 5 b and c).