Network pharmacology mechanism of Chinese materia medicine compound in staging treatment of COVID-19 based on correspondence between prescription and syndrome

Objective: Taking the five syndromes of light (syndromes of damp and heat stagnating lung), normal (syndrome of dampness-toxicity stagnating lung), severe (syndrome of flaring heat in qi and ying), critical (syndrome of inner blocking causing collapse), and recovery (syndrome of qi-yin deficiency) period and their corresponding compounds in the seventh edition of Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19 as the research object, the mechanisms of various syndromes and compounds used in the stage treatment of COVID-19 by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was analyzed by using the method of network pharmacology Methods: The active components and their targets of five syndromes corresponding compounds were obtained from databases and literatures such as TCMSP, the targets of the five syndrome manifestations were retrieved using databases such as Gene Card The protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were constructed based on the intersection targets of five syndromes and active components of their corresponding compounds Results: The intersection targets numbers of the syndromes of damp and heat stagnating lung, syndrome of dampness-toxicity stagnating lung, syndrome of flaring heat in qi and ying, syndrome of inner blocking causing collapse, and syndrome of qi-yin deficiency and their the active ingredients of the corresponding compounds were 252, 322, 402, 140, and 399, respectively, and the intersection targets mainly included VEGFA, EGFR, CASP3, AKT1 and so on The types of pathways for the five compounds interventions were generally similar, but the emphases of each compound intervention pathway were different Syndromes of damp and heat stagnating lung and syndrome of dampness-toxicity stagnating lung corresponding compounds focused on interfering with the virus and enhancing the body's immune response Syndrome of flaring heat in qi and ying and syndrome of inner blocking causing collapse corresponding compounds focused on alleviating abnormalities of the nervous system to restore the body consciousness Syndrome of qi-yin deficiency corresponding compounds further participated in the process of cell growth and enhanced the body's immunity Conclusion: The five compounds treated COVID-19 through multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways The five compounds for the treatment of COVID-19 are mainly through anti-virus, suppression of inflammation, enhancement of immune response and protection of main target organs, which indicate the TCM characteristics of dialectical treatment and correspondence between prescriptions and syndromes, and explained the rationality of TCM to treat COVID-19 by stages © 2021, Editorial Office of Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs All right reserved