title: Exploring mechanisms of Panax notoginseng saponins in treating coronary heart disease by integrating gene interaction network and functional enrichment analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the mechanisms of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) in treating coronary heart disease (CHD) by integrating gene interaction network and functional enrichment analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Text mining was used to get CHD and PNS associated genes. Gene-gene interaction networks of CHD and PNS were built by the GeneMANIA Cytoscape plugin. Advanced Network Merge Cytoscape plugin was used to analyze the two networks. Their functions were analyzed by gene functional enrichment analysis via DAVID Bioinformatics. Joint subnetwork of CHD network and PNS network was identifified by network analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 11 genes of the joint subnetwork were the direct targets of PNS in CHD network and enriched in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathway. PNS could affect other 85 genes by the gene-gene interaction of joint subnetwork and these genes were enriched in other 7 pathways. The direct mechanisms of PNS in treating CHD by targeting cytokines to relieve the inflflammation and the indirect mechanisms of PNS in treating CHD by affecting other 7 pathways through the interaction of joint subnetwork of PNS and CHD network. The genes in the 7 pathways could be potential targets for the immunologic adjuvant, anticoagulant, hypolipidemic, anti-platelet and anti-hypertrophic activities of PNS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The key mechanisms of PNS in treating CHD could be anticoagulant and hypolipidemic which are indicated by analyzing biological functions of hubs in the merged network.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Southern Branch of Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 102600, China.
authors.forename: Gui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100053, China. wangjie0103@sina.com.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D053723:Panax notoginseng / Q000737:chemistry*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D012503:Saponins
keywords: Panax notoginseng saponins; coronary heart disease; gene–gene interaction network; network biology