Cellular mechanism of action of forsythiaside for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease

Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) becomes the leading cause of death for end-stage renal disease, whereas the potential mechanism is unclear and effective therapy is still rare. Our study was designed to investigate the cellular mechanism of Forsythiaside against DKD. Materials and Methods: The targets of Forsythiaside and the DKD-related targets were obtained from databases. The overlapping targets in these two sets were regarded as potential targets for alleviation of DKD by Forsythiaside. The targets of diabetic podocytopathy and tubulopathy were also detected to clarify the mechanism of Forsythiaside ameliorating DKD from the cellular level. Results: Our results explored that PRKCA and RHOA were regarded as key therapeutic targets of Forsythiaside with excellent binding affinity for treating DKD podocytopathy. Enrichment analysis suggested the underlying mechanism was mainly focused on the oxidative stress and mTOR signaling pathway. The alleviated effects of Forsythiaside on the reactive oxidative species accumulation and PRKCA and RHOA proteins upregulation in podocytes were also confirmed. Conclusion: The present study elucidates that Forsythiaside exerts potential treatment against DKD which may act directly RHOA and PRKCA target by suppressing the oxidative stress pathway in podocytes. And Forsythiaside could be regarded as one of the candidate drugs dealing with DKD in future experimental or clinical researches.