A network pharmacology approach to determine the synergetic mechanisms of herb couple for treating rheumatic arthritis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic mechanism(s) of Clematis chinensis Osbeck/Notopterygium incisum K.C. Ting ex H.T (CN). METHODS: A network pharmacology approach integrating prediction of ingredients, target exploration, network construction, module partition and pathway analysis was used. RESULTS: This approach successfully helped to identify 12 active ingredients of CN, interacting with 13 key targets (Akt1, STAT3, TNFsf13, TP53, EPHB2, IL-10, IL-6, TNF, MAPK8, IL-8, RELA, ROS1 and STAT4). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis indicated that CN-regulated pathways were mainly classified into signal transduction and immune system. CONCLUSION: The present work may help to illustrate the mechanism(s) of action of CN, and it may provide a better understanding of antirheumatic effects.