The outbreak of new infectious pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 has posed a significant threat to public health, but specific medicines and vaccines are still being developed. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has thousands of years of experience in facing the epidemic disease, such as influenza and viral pneumonia. In this study, we revealed the efficacy and pharmacological mechanism of Ma Xing Shi Gan (MXSG) Decoction against COVID-19. First, we used liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) to analyze the chemical components in MXSG and identified a total of 97 components from MXSG. Then, the intervention pathway of MXSG based on these components was analyzed with network pharmacology, and it was found that the pathways related to the virus infection process were enriched in some of MXSG component targets. Simultaneously, through literature research, it was preliminarily determined that MXSG, which is an essential prescription for treating COVID-19, shared the feature of antiviral, improving clinical symptoms, regulating immune inflammation, and inhibiting lung injury. The regulatory mechanisms associated with its treatment of COVID-19 were proposed. That MXSG might directly inhibit the adsorption and replication of SARS-CoV-2 at the viral entry step. Besides, MXSG might play a critical role in inflammation and immune regulatory, that is, to prevent cytokine storm and relieve lung injury through toll-like receptors signaling pathway. Next, in this study, the regulatory effect of MXSG on inflammatory lung injury was validated through transcriptome results. In summary, MXSG is a relatively active and safe treatment for influenza and viral pneumonia, and its therapeutic effect may be attributed to its antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Antiviral, Traditional Chinese medicine, immunomodulatory, Ma Xing Shi Gan decoction, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, Transcriptome, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Inflammation, Efficacy, Vaccine, Cytokine storm, Anti-inflammatory effects, Clinical symptoms, Pneumonia, Influenza, network pharmacology, Intervention, Lung injury, viral entry, Toll-like receptor, immune, Regulatory, Medicine, Viral pneumonia, outbreak, Research, pathway, targets, signaling pathway, virus infection, disease, Critical, mechanism, pharmacological mechanism, Tandem mass spectrometry, TCM, Adsorption, Safe, Decoction, therapeutic effect, treating COVID-19, component, inflammatory lung injury, replication of SARS-CoV-2, Prevent, the epidemic, analyzed, caused, inhibit, inhibiting, 【제목키워드】 Pharmacology, network, Decoction, exploration,