Since the outbreak of the novel corona
virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the end of 2019, specific
antiviral drugs have been lacking. A Chinese
patent medicine Toujiequwen granules has been promoted in the treatment of
COVID-19. The present study was designed to reveal the molecular mechanism of Toujiequwen granules against
COVID-19. A network pharmacological method was applied to screen the main active ingredients of Toujiequwen granules. Network analysis of 149 active ingredients and 330
drug targets showed the most active ingredient interacting with many
drug targets is
quercetin.
Drug targets most affected by the active ingredients were
PTGS2, PTGS1, and DPP4.
Drug target disease enrichment analysis showed
drug targets were significantly enriched in
cardiovascular diseases and digestive tract diseases. An "active ingredient-target-disease" network showed that 57 active ingredients from Toujiequwen granules interacted with 15 key targets of
COVID-19. There were 53 ingredients that could act on DPP4, suggesting that DPP4 may become a potential new key target for the treatment of
COVID-19. GO analysis results showed that key targets were mainly enriched in the cellular response to
lipopolysaccharide,
cytokine activity and other functions. KEGG analysis showed they were mainly concentrated in
viral protein interaction with
cytokine and
cytokine receptors and endocrine resistance pathway. The evidence suggests that Toujiequwen granules might play an effective role by improving the symptoms of underlying diseases in patients with
COVID-19 and multi-target interventions against multiple signaling pathways related to the pathogenesis of
COVID-19.