AUTHOR=Liang Weizheng , Li Xiushen , Yao Yue , Meng Qingxue , Wu Xueliang , Wang Hao , Xue Jun 

TITLE=Puerarin: A Potential Therapeutic for Colon Adenocarcinoma (COAD) Patients Suffering From SARS-CoV-2 Infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.921517

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2022.921517

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) patients are at relatively high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, there is a lack of medical strategies to treat COVID-19/COAD comorbidity. In this study, puerarin, a natural product, is a known antiviral, antitumor, and immunomodulatory effect. Therefore, we hypothesized that puerarin could be used to treat COVID-19/COAD patients. Based on network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis, the potential targets and pharmacological mechanisms of puerarin in COVID-19/COAD were identified. By intersecting the identified therapeutic target genes of puerarin, COVID-19-related genes and COAD-related genes, 42 targets of puerarin that could potentially treat COVID-19/COAD comorbidity were obtained. By using the 42 potential targets to construct the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, we obtained 5 core target genes, namely RELA, BCL2, JUN, FOS, and MAPK1. The results of bioinformatics analysis revealed that puerarin could be able to treat COVID-19 through apoptosis, antiviral, antioxidant, NF-κB, MAPK, IL-17, TNF, and HIF-1 signaling pathway. The present study found that puerarin has potential to treat COVID-19/COAD patients. Those targets can provide a clue for the treatment of COVID19/COAD comorbidity.