Action Mechanism Underlying Improvement Effect of Fuzi Lizhong Decoction on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Study Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to decipher the bioactive compounds and potential mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula Fuzi Lizhong Decoction (FLD) for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) treatment via an integrative network pharmacology approach. METHODS: The candidate compounds of FLD and its relative targets were obtained from the TCMSP and PharmMapper web server, and the intersection genes for NAFLD were discerned using OMIM, GeneCards, and DisGeNET. Then, the PPI and component-target-pathway networks were constructed. Moreover, GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis were performed to investigate the potential signaling pathways associated with FLD's effect on NAFLD. Eventually, molecular docking simulation was carried out to validate the binding affinity between potential core components and key targets. RESULTS: A total of 143 candidate active compounds and 129 relative drug targets were obtained, in which 61 targets were overlapped with NAFLD. The PPI network analysis identified ALB, MAPK1, CASP3, MARK8, and AR as key targets, mainly focusing on cellular response to organic cyclic compound, steroid metabolic process, and response to steroid hormone in the biological processes. The KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated that 16 signaling pathways were closely correlated with FLD's effect on NALFD with cancer pathways, Th17 cell differentiation, and IL-17 signaling pathways as the most significant ones. In addition, the molecular docking analysis revealed that the core active compounds of FLD, such as 3′-methoxyglabridin, chrysanthemaxanthin, and Gancaonin H, had a high binding activity with such key targets as ALB, MAPK1, and CASP3. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that FLD exerted its effect on NAFLD via modulating multitargets with multicompounds through multipathways. It also demonstrated that the network pharmacology-based approach might provide insights for understanding the interrelationship between complex diseases and interventions of the TCM formula.