Mechanism of Thunberg Fritillaria in treating endometriosis based on network pharmacology and the effect of Peiminine on the MEK/ERK pathway

Xia Peng; Yue Xia; Jiani Xie; Honglin Liu; Limin Fan; Chaoqin Yu; Xiaorong Ni

Mechanism of Thunberg Fritillaria in treating endometriosis based on network pharmacology and the effect of Peiminine on the MEK/ERK pathway

Am J Transl Res. 2022 Sep 15;14(9):6196-6209. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xia Peng¹, Yue Xia¹, Jiani Xie¹, Honglin Liu¹, Limin Fan², Chaoqin Yu³, Xiaorong Ni¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynecology, Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Shanghai 200071, China.
² The Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Nano Science Tongji University School of Medicine No. 1239, Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China.
³ Department of Traditional Chinese Gynecology, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to Naval Medical University Shanghai 200071, China.

PMID: 36247281
PMCID: PMC9556459

Abstract

Objective: To explore the mechanism of Thunberg Fritillaria in treating endometriosis (EMs) based on network pharmacology and the effect of Peiminine on the MEK/ERK pathway.

Methods: We applied Chinese medicine system pharmacology analysis platform (TCMSP) database and literature search to screen the main chemical components of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq and created a Vanny map from the databases of TCMSP, GENECARDS, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), and some others. The STRING database was used to construct the protein interaction network of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq and EMs. The overlapping targets and enriched pathways were discovered using the cells of the innate immune annotation database (DAVID) and the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. To test the mechanism of Peiminine, the active ingredients of Fritillaria thunbergii, in the therapy of EMs, we designed cell assays and animal research. EMs mouse models were treated with several therapies, including fibrosis inhibitor in Peiminine by utilizing Hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE staining), MASSON staining, Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiment, and Western blotting test. We evaluated the anti-endometriotic effects of Peiminine using 12Z human endometriotic cells. Cell Counting Kit 8 was used to assess the vitality of 12z cells (CCK8). We evaluated the migration ability of 12z cells by cell scratch test.

Results: The effective active ingredients of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq in the treatment of EMs are Pelargonidin, Beta-sitosterol syringaresinol, Peimisine Pelargonidin-3, 5-diglucoside Ziebeimine Zhebeiresinol Verticine Solatubin OSI-2040 Chaksine Peiminine Peiminoside Peiminoside_qt, and 6-Methoxyl-2-acetyl-3-methyl-1, 4-naphthoquinone-8-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The critical targets for Fritillaria thunbergii Miq treating EMs are NOS2/PTGS1/AR/PPARG/PTGS2/NCOA2/RXRA/PGR/NR3C1/NCOA1/SLC6A4/OPRM1/BCL2 and ESR1. The results of GO function and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the role pathway was estrogen-related signaling and thyroid hormone-related signaling. The expression of E-cadherin was decreased in EMs while MEK1/2, P-ERK, N-cadherin and vimentin were all increased in MASSON, immunofluorescence, Real-time PCR and Western blotting. In epithelial 12Z cells, high concentrations of Peiminine can block cell activity and migration, which is directly related to blocking cell fibrosis.

Conclusion: Overall, this study partially verified the network pharmacological prediction that Peiminine regulates the MAPK pathway in inhibiting 12Z cell proliferation and migration, and finally protects against EMs.

Keywords: Fritillaria thunbergii Miq; MAPK signaling pathway; endometriosis; network pharmacology.