Abstract
BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that central precocious puberty (CPP) is affected by the imbalance of kidney Yin and Yang. Dabuyin pill is a recipe for nourishing Yin and lowering fire. The network pharmacology method was used to analyze the active components, action targets, and molecular pathways of Dabuyin pill in the treatment of CPP. METHODS: The main chemical components of Dabuyin pill were obtained from the Integrative database of Traditional Chinese Medicine enhanced by Symptom Mapping (SymMap) database and Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP), and compound targets were retrieved from SymMap and the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ETCM). Disease targets were retrieved from the DisGeNET and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, and the intersection of compound targets and disease targets was performed to obtain the prediction targets of Dabuyin pill acting on CPP. The key targets enriched by Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) were then used for Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. RESULTS: GO analysis showed that the biological functions of Dabuyin pill in the treatment of key targets of CPP mainly involved apoptosis, nitric oxide synthesis, estradiol response, angiogenesis, inflammation, and so on. KEGG pathway analysis was mainly enriched in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway, and apoptosis. Among them, the regulation effect of Dabuyin pill prescription on apoptosis may both act on TP53 and different signaling pathways of apoptosis, thus playing a synergistic role. CONCLUSIONS: Dabuyin pill combined with GnRHa for the prevention and treatment of CPP in girls can effectively intervene CPP, and the effect of Dabuyin pill on sex hormones is one of its protective mechanisms against CPP.