C-C,N,S treats atrial fibrillation through regulating inflammatory procession: a study of network pharmacology research and gene set enrichment analysis validation

Abstract Triangle drug combination of Citrus medica L.var.sarcodactylis Swingle , Naradostachys jatamansi DC. and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. (C-C,N,S) is usually appeared in atrial fibrillation-treating (AF) decoction and has good clinical effects. However, the core pathological process and mechanism of C-C,N,S intervening AF is unclear. So we intend to use network pharmacology and gene set enrichment analysis to explore the potential mechanism. We detected all compounds of C-C,N,S from CNKI database, predicted its bioactive compounds and potential anti-AF targets from related online platforms and databases. Then through PPI network, gene expression analyses, GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis on anti-AF targets, we determined the potential mechanism of C-C,N,S treating AF. Finally we used gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to validate the therapeutic effect of C-C,N,S. In conclusion, the therapeutic effect of C-C,N,S treating AF was focused on anti-inflammation. C-C,N,S can regulate inflammatory process and inhibit atrial remodeling and fibrosis through regulating TNF signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway (MAPK signaling involved in) and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Some genes regulated by specific herbal medicine explained reason of the combination.