ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Decoding the Therapeutic Potential Mechanism of Cornus officinalisCornus Officinalis in Parkinson's disease: A Network Pharmacology Insight
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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Background: Cornus officinalis, traditionally used for its kidney-tonifying and waist-protecting properties, has recently shown potential therapeutic effects in neurological disorders. However, its mechanisms in Parkinson's disease (PD) remain unclear. Methods: This study employed a network pharmacology approach combined with molecular docking to systematically explore the active components of Cornus officinalis and their associated signaling pathways in PD. Results: A total of 11,663 PD-related targets were identified from multiple databases, with 185 overlapping targets obtained from active components of Cornus officinalis using SwissTargetPrediction. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis identified EGFR, TP53, HIF1A, ESR1, PPARG, TNF, HSP90AA1, PTGS2, and SRC as the core targets of Cornus officinalis in PD. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that Cornus officinalis primarily modulates pathways such as MAPK signaling, synaptic function, and lipid metabolism. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis highlighted the involvement of target genes in the neuro-endocrine-immune network. Molecular docking confirmed strong binding affinities between active components and core targets, with binding energies below -5 kcal/mol. 设置了格式: 字体: (中文) +中文正文 (等线), 小二, 加粗, 字 体颜色: 自动设置, 连字: 标准 + 上下文 Reactome pathway enrichment analysis further identified the IL-4 and IL-13 signaling pathway as the most significant, suggesting a critical role in regulating immune responses and neuroinflammation. Molecular dynamics simulations further confirmed the stability of the binding between Cornus officinalis and the targets. Conclusions: Cornus officinalis exhibits potential therapeutic effects against PD through multi-target and multi-pathway mechanisms, including anti-inflammatory actions, regulation of synaptic function regulation, and metabolic modulation. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for further experimental and clinical validation of Cornus officinalis as a promising candidate for PD treatment.
Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, mechanism of action, Parkinson's disease, Cornus officinalis, molecular docking
Received: 28 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhao, Wang, Dong, Zhou, Feng, Deng and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yingmei Feng, yingmeif13@ccmu.edu.cn
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