Objectives: To explore the mechanism of core points in acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for epilepsy by using data mining technique, so as to provide a reference for clinical practice and experimental research.
Methods: The data comes from relevant documents collected from CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed, VIP, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, EBSCO, Web of Science databases. The selected acupoints were analyzed in descriptive statistics, high-frequency acupoints group and core acupoint prescription. Further, potential target mining, "core acupoint prescription-target-epilepsy" network construction, protein-protein interactions (PPI) network establishment and core target extraction, gene ontology (GO) and KEGG gene enrichment analysis of the core acupoint prescription were carried out to predict its anti-epileptic potential mechanism.
Results: A total of 122 acupoint prescriptions were included. The core acupoint prescriptions were Baihui (GV20), Hegu (LI4), Neiguan (PC6), Shuigou (GV26) and Taichong (LR3). 277 potential targets were identified, among which 134 were shared with epilepsy. The core targets were extracted by PPI network topology analysis, including signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL)-6, protein kinase B1, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tumor protein 53, vascular endothelial growth factor A, Caspase-3, epidermal growth factor receptor, etc. The main anti-epileptic pathways of the core acupoints were predicted by KEGG enrichment, including lipid and atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein B kinase signaling pathway, mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 signaling pathway, apoptosis, etc., involving neuronal death, synaptic plasticity, oxidative stress, inflammation and other related biological process.
Conclusions: The core acupoint prescription of acupuncture and moxibustion intervention for epilepsy can act on multiple targets and multiple pathways to exert anti-epileptic effects, which can provide a theoretical basis for further clinical application and mechanism research.
目的: 利用数据挖掘方法浅析针灸治疗癫痫的选穴规律，并探讨其核心穴方产生作用的分子机制，为针灸治疗癫痫的临床选穴和基础研究提供参考和依据。方法: 以中国知网、万方数据库、中国生物医学文献数据库、维普期刊数据库及Embase、PubMed、Cochrane Library、EBSCO、Web of Science数据库中收录的相关研究文献为数据来源，对选用腧穴进行描述性分析、高频穴组分析、核心穴方挖掘与分析，并进一步对核心穴方进行潜在靶点挖掘、“核心穴方-靶点-癫痫”网络构建、蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络建立与核心靶点提取、基因本体（GO）富集和KEGG富集分析等以预测针灸治疗癫痫的潜在机制。结果: 共纳入腧穴处方122条；核心组方为百会、合谷、内关、水沟、太冲，挖掘到其潜在治疗靶点277个，与癫痫共有靶点134个，经PPI网络拓扑分析提取出核心靶点，包括信号转导和转录激活因子3、肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）、白细胞介素（IL）-6、蛋白激酶B1、c-Jun氨基末端激酶、脑源性神经营养因子、肿瘤蛋白53、血管内皮生长因子A、胱天蛋白酶3、表皮生长因子受体等；经GO和KEGG富集预测得到核心穴方治疗癫痫的主要途径，包括脂质与动脉粥样硬化、神经退行性变、磷脂酰肌醇-3-激酶-丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶B信号通路、丝裂原活化蛋白激酶信号通路、环磷酸腺苷信号通路、TNF信号通路、IL-17信号通路、低氧诱导因子-1信号通路、凋亡等，涉及神经元死亡、氧化应激、突触可塑性、炎性反应等。结论: 针灸干预癫痫的核心穴位处方可通过作用于多靶点、多通路协同发挥治疗癫痫的作用，本研究可为后续针灸治疗癫痫的临床应用及机制研究提供理论基础。.
Keywords: Acupuncture and moxibustion; Data mining; Epilepsy; Mechanism prediction; Network acupuncture.