Abstract: Objective: By means of network pharmacology, potential targets and molecular pathways of QiZhenYuanDan in the treatment of atherosclerosis (AS) were studied. Methods: TCMSP database was used to obtain the main active components and target information of Astragali Radix, Fructus Ligustri Lucidi, Corydalis Rhizoma and Salvia Miltiorrhiza in QiZhenYuanDan. Disease targets were retrieved by OMIM and other databases. Molecular networks were constructed using Cytoscape. STRING database was searched and PPI network diagram was drawn to obtain the key targets of QiZhenYuanDan in the treatment of AS; and the targets were uploaded to Metascape data platform for GO and KEGG analysis. Results: There were 118 targets of intersection between QiZhenYuanDan and AS, which were used as the predicted targets of QiZhenYuanDan on AS. GO analysis showed that the biological functions of QiZhenYuanDan in the treatment of AS targets mainly involved biological processes, such as the cytokine-mediated signaling pathway, cytokine receptor binding. KEGG pathway was mainly enriched in 155 signaling pathways, including PI3K-Akt, HIF-1, NF-κB signal pathway and inflammatory bowel disease pathway. Conclusion: Based on the result of network pharmacology study, the mechanisms of Qizhenyuandan for AS treatment was preliminarily revealed. The active ingredients such as quercetin and kaempferol act on targets such as IL-6 and PI3K-Akt, and exert anti-AS effects by inhibiting apoptosis, oxidative stress, as well as inflammatory responses. Our result indicates that QiZhenYuanDan exhibits anti-AS effect via a multi-component, multi-target and multi-route synergistic process.

Key words: QiZhenYuanDan, network pharmacology, atherosclerosis, quercetin, kaempferol, IL-6, PI3K-Akt