Effect and Potential Mechanism of Rhubarb on COVID-19 Based on the “Wenbingzaixiaqiyure” Theory/ 基于“温病在下其郁热”探究大黄在新型冠状病毒肺炎的作用及潜在机制

Objective: To explore the effect and potential mechanism of rhubarb on COVID-19 based on the theory of “Wenbingzaixiayiyure” Methods: Based on network pharmacology, the chemical components and targets of rhubarb were obtained in the TCMSP database, and the name of the target protein was converted into Gene Symbol through the Uniprot database The “chemical composition – target” network of rhubarb was constructed by Cytoscape3 7 1 software The target protein interaction network was built by using STRING database, and was imported into Cytoscape for network optimization, then “MCODE” plug-in was used to cluster analyze GO function analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed by using the “ClueGo” plug-in, the results were visualized by R software Results: 7 chemical components including beta-sitosterol and aloe-emodin were screened, as well as 49 corresponding targets 2 subnetworks involving 18 targets, such as JUN, CASP3, IL1B, CASP8 and CASP9, were revealed by cluster analysis of PPI network of target 296 biological functions including G protein-coupled amine receptor activity, nuclear receptor activity, ligand-activated transcription factor activity, histone phosphorylation and steroid hormone receptor activity were revealed by GO function analysis (P＜0 01) 31 pathways including p53 signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, C-type lectin receptor signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway were revealed by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis (P＜0 01) Conclusion: Rhubarb can be used to treat COVID-19 for its effects of anti-virus, anti-inflammation, anti-oxidative stress, anti-apoptosis and regulating the body immunity, through a multi-component-target-pathway way