Network pharmacology exploration reveals the bioactive compounds and molecular mechanisms of Li-Ru-Kang against hyperplasia of mammary gland

Li-Ru-Kang (LRK) has been commonly used in the treatment of hyperplasia of mammary gland (HMG) as a cipher prescription and achieved obvious therapeutic effects. However, the bioactive compounds and underlying pharmacological mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to decipher the bioactive compounds and potential action mechanisms of LRK in the treatment of HMG using an integrated pharmacology approach. The ingredients of LRK and the corresponding drug targets were retrieved through drug target databases and were used to construct the “compound–target–disease” network and function–pathway network. Ultimately, 89 compounds and 2150 drug targets were collected. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that mammary gland alveolus development and mammary gland lobule development were the key biological processes and were regulated simultaneously by three direct targets, including androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER) and cyclin-D1. Moreover, 14 compounds of LRK were directly involved in the regulation of the three aforementioned targets. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis found that five signaling pathways and seven direct targets were closely related with HMG treatment by LRK. The results of animal experiments showed that LRK significantly improved the histopathological status of HMG in rats. Additionally, LRK markedly regulated the protein expressions of AR, cyclin-D1, MMP2, MMP3 and MMP9. But interestingly, the effect of LRK on ER was not obvious. This study demonstrated that LRK exerted its therapeutic efficacy based on multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways. This research confirms the advantages of network pharmacology analyses and the necessity for experimental verification.