The pathogenesis similarity is leading to the introduction of drugs commonly used in
rheumatoid arthritis (RA) into coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was widely used for the treatment of
infectious diseases and
rheumatic diseases. However, there is little knowledge of the relationship between
COVID-19 and RA treatment employing TCM formulas. The present work was aimed to compare the similarity and specificity of TCM formulas for the management of
COVID-19 and RA, as well as to deduce the potential mechanism of TCM for
COVID-19 treatment. Two formulas including
lianhuaqingwen (LHQW) and duhuojisheng (DHJS) were selected as the representatives of TCM for
COVID-19 and RA treatment, respectively. An integrated network pharmacology was used to investigate their similarity and specificity. Although different herbs are present in the two formulas, they generated fairly similar ingredients, targets, interaction networks and enriched pathways, which were mainly involved in
virus infection,
inflammation, and immune dysregulation. Undoubtedly, they also exhibited their respective specificity. LHQW showed the cold property and lung channel tropism which dominated heat-clearing and lung-freeing, while DHJS showed the warm property and liver channel tropism. Herbal compatibility of LHQW was more in line with the rules of the TCM formula against coronavirus disease. Although both formulas suggested multifunctionality in
virus infection and
inflammation, LHQW was inclined to cope with
virus infection, while DHJS was inclined to cope with
inflammation. Therefore, LHQW was reliable for providing the desired efficacy in
COVID-19 management because of its cold property, lung channel tropism, and multifunctionality for coping with
virus infection and
inflammation.