Exploring the anti-atherosclerosis mechanism of ginsenoside Rb1 by integrating network pharmacology and experimental verification

Aging (Albany NY). 2024 Mar 27;16(8):6745-6756. doi: 10.18632/aging.205680. Epub 2024 Mar 27.

Abstract

Ginsenoside Rb1 is the major active constituent of ginseng, which is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine for the atherosclerosis treatment by anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and reducing lipid accumulation. We explored cellular target and molecular mechanisms of ginsenoside Rb1 based on network pharmacology and in vitro experimental validation. In this study, we predicted 17 potential therapeutic targets for ginsenoside Rb1 with atherosclerosis from public databases. We then used protein-protein interaction network to screen the hub targets. Gene Ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment showed that the effects of ginsenoside Rb1 were meditated through multiple targets and pathways. Next, molecular docking results revealed that in the 10 core targets, CCND1 has the highest binding energy with ginsenoside Rb1. Vascular cell proliferation plays a critical role in atherosclerosis development. However, the effect and direct target of ginsenoside Rb1 in regulating vascular cell proliferation in atherosclerosis remains unclear. Edu straining results indicated that ginsenoside Rb1 inhibited the cell proliferation of endothelial cells, macrophages, and vascular smooth muscle cells. The protein immunoprecipitation (IP) analysis showed that ginsenoside Rb1 inhibited the vascular cell proliferation by suppressing the interaction of CCDN1 and CDK4. These findings systematically reveal that the anti-atherosclerosis mechanism of ginsenoside Rb1 by integrating network pharmacology and experimental validation, which provide evidence to treat atherosclerosis by using ginsenoside Rb1 and targeting CCND1.

Keywords: CCND1; atherosclerosis; ginsenoside Rb1; network pharmacology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Atherosclerosis* / drug therapy
  • Atherosclerosis* / metabolism
  • Cell Proliferation* / drug effects
  • Cyclin D1 / genetics
  • Cyclin D1 / metabolism
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4 / genetics
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4 / metabolism
  • Ginsenosides* / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Molecular Docking Simulation*
  • Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / cytology
  • Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / drug effects
  • Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / metabolism
  • Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / drug effects
  • Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / metabolism
  • Network Pharmacology
  • Protein Interaction Maps*

Substances

  • Ginsenosides
  • ginsenoside Rb1
  • Cyclin D1
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4