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. 2019 Apr 4:13:1069-1075.
doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S189088. eCollection 2019.

Systematic elucidation of the mechanism of geraniol via network pharmacology

Yun-Fei Zhang  1 , Yue Huang  1 , Yi-Hua Ni  1 , Zheng-Min Xu  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Systematic elucidation of the mechanism of geraniol via network pharmacology

Yun-Fei Zhang et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Geraniol is an acyclic monoterpene alcohol, which is extracted from the ethereal oils of aromatic plants. A systematic analysis of its mechanism of action has not yet been carried out.

Methods: In this study, the druggability of geraniol was assessed via Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database (TCMSP), and the potential targets of geraniol were identified using the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD). Additionally, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed using WebGestalt. Drug-target-pathway networks were constructed using Cytoscape to give a visual view.

Results: Our findings showed that geraniol has superb druggability with 38 putative identified target genes. GO, KEGG, and network analyses revealed that these targets were associated with cancer, inflammatory immunoreactions, and other physiological processes.

Conclusion: Geraniol is predicted to target multiple proteins and pathways that shape a network which can exert systematic pharmacological effects.

Keywords: druggability; enrichment analysis; geraniol; network pharmacology; target prediction.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Chemical structure of geraniol downloaded from the PubChem database (CID: 637566); (B) Workflow for the identification of potential geraniol target genes that integrates ADME evaluation, chemical-gene interaction, GO and KEGG pathway analyses and network construction. Abbreviations: ADME, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion; GO, gene ontology; KEGG, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; CTD, Comparative Toxicogenomics Database.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Protein network of geraniol. Black nodes represent target proteins, and connecting colors indicate different correlations. Functional associations between targets were investigated using GeneMANIA. Genes in black circles were query terms while these in gray circle indicate genes associated with query genes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
GO map of putative target genes. (A) Biological process categories. (B) Cellular component categories. (C) Molecular function categories.
Figure 4
Figure 4
KEGG pathway analysis of putative target genes.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Geraniol-target-pathway network.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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