title: A network pharmacology approach to discover active compounds and action mechanisms of San-Cao Granule for treatment of liver fibrosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  San-Cao Granule (SCG) has been used in patients with liver fibrosis for many years and has shown good effect. However, its mechanism of therapeutic action is not clear because of its complex chemical system. The purpose of our study is to establish a comprehensive and systemic method that can predict the mechanism of action of SCG in antihepatic fibrosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, a "compound-target-disease" network was constructed by combining the SCG-specific and liver fibrosis-specific target proteins with protein-protein interactions, and network pharmacology was used to screen out the underlying targets and mechanisms of SCG for treatment of liver fibrosis. Then, some key molecules of the enriched pathway were chosen to verify the effects of SCG on liver fibrosis induced by thioacetamide (TAA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  This systematic approach had successfully revealed that 16 targets related to 11 SCG compounds were closely associated with liver fibrosis therapy. The pathway-enrichment analysis of them showed that the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway is relatively important. Animal experiments also proved that SCG could significantly ameliorate liver fibrosis by inhibiting the TGF-β1/Smad pathway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SCG could alleviate liver fibrosis through the molecular mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology. Furthermore, network pharmacology could provide deep insight into the pharmacological mechanisms of Chinese herbal formulas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shizhang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: China Military Institute of Chinese Medicine, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: China Military Institute of Chinese Medicine, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiabo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Liver Failure Therapy and Research Center, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medical Center, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengqiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People's Republic of China; Chong Qing Academy of Chinese Traditional Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Chongqing TCM Resources, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Chong Qing Academy of Chinese Traditional Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Chongqing TCM Resources, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fengqun
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qingguo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: China Military Institute of Chinese Medicine, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaohe
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Liver Failure Therapy and Research Center, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Clinical Trial Center, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, 302 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D051900:Smad3 Protein / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D051900:Smad3 Protein; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1; C497787:Smad3 protein, rat; C498862:Acta2 protein, rat
keywords: San-Cao Granule; TAA; liver fibrosis; network pharmacology