title: Deciphering the Potential Pharmaceutical Mechanism of Chinese Traditional Medicine (Gui-Zhi-Shao-Yao-Zhi-Mu) on Rheumatoid Arthritis.
abstract: Gui-Zhi-Shao-Yao-Zhi-Mu (GSZ) decoction is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula commonly used for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The therapeutic effect of GSZ for RA treatment is supported by our clinical retrospective study. To uncover the potential mechanism underlying GSZ formula, we identified 1,327 targets of 673 compounds from 9 herbs that involve in Fc epsilon RI signaling pathway and regulation of immunoglobulin production. Comparison between formula targets with 79 RA drug targets and 675 RA disease genes showed that formula targets covered 31.6% RA drug targets and 19.9% RA disease genes. Formula specific targets presented expression patterns highly similar to the disease genes and drug targets based on the expression profiles of RA samples. Investigation of 10 inferred gene clusters from expression profiles with a target association network revealed that formula specific targets directly or indirectly interacted with disease genes that were essential for immune related biological processes (e.g. inflammatory responses, treatment response of rheumatoid arthritis, etc.). Our result indicated that GSZ disrupted the RA disease dysfunction modules and restored homeostasis in the human body. The systemic approach to infer therapeutic mechanisms of GSZ for RA treatment provides a new insight in the understanding of this TCM formula.
authors.affiliation: TCM Clinical Basis Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medicine University, 548 Binwen Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Life Science, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241, China.|School of Finance and Statistics, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: TCM Clinical Basis Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medicine University, 548 Binwen Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, China.
authors.forename: Duoli
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Life Science, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241, China.|Biological Targeting Diagnosis and Therapy Research Center, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, China.
authors.forename: Tieliu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: TCM Clinical Basis Institute, Zhejiang Chinese Medicine University, 548 Binwen Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310000, China.
authors.forename: Chengping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal