Research Progress on the Molecular Mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Regulating Inflammatory Signaling Pathways

Abstract

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has also proven to have amazing effects in the treatment of inflammatory diseases by using multi-component multi-target therapeutic action. This thorough review examines the molecular processes through which TCM modulates the inflammatory signaling pathways based on integrated network pharmacology, molecular docking and experimental validation methods. The network analysis revealed 312 TCM-inflammation targets and the highest connectivity on the hub genes was observed in IL-6, TNF, and VEGFA. KEGG pathway enrichment showed strong modulation of NF-kB, MAPK, PI3K/Akt and JAK/STAT signaling cascades. Molecular docking established good binding affinities among the TCM compounds and the inflammatory targets with quercetin and curcumin exhibiting outstanding interactions. In vitro validation revealed the presence of dose-dependent inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines, NF-kB activation inhibition, and induction of macrophage polarization between M1 and M2 phenotype. Findings support the view that TCM has an anti-inflammatory effect by the simultaneous modulation of several interconnected signaling nodes, which suggests scientific support of its clinical use in more complex inflammatory diseases and an explanation of the traditional concepts of holism as well as current molecular knowledge.