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Micro RNAs (mi RNAs) play very important roles in the control of immune cell and keratinocyte development and function and are implicated in skin inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis. mi RNA miR-17-92 was reported to promote the differentiation of Th1 and Th1 cells and to regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis. Here we showed that imiquimod ( IMQ) differentially regulates the expression of miR-17-92 cluster in the mouse skin, upregulating miR-17 and miR-19 families and downregulating miR-92. To investigate whether miR-17-92 cluster is functionally involved in the psoriasis, we have generated three mutant mice with specific deletion or overexpression of miR-17-92 cluster in keratinocytes, or with deletion of miR-17-92 cluster in T cells. Interestingly, deletion or overexpression of miR-17-92 cluster in keratinocytes, or deletion of miR-17-92 in T cells did not significantly affect IMQ-induced psoriasis-like dermatitis development in the mutant mice compared with wild-type littermates. Thus, mi RNA miR-17-92 cluster may not be a key factor regulating imiqumod-induced psoriasis-like dermatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radix Scutellariae (RS) has been used to treat influenza for thousands of years in China. However, its mechanisms of action remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to use a network pharmacology and molecular docking-based approach to explore active components and potential molecular mechanisms of RS for influenza A., Methods: Target genes of RS and influenza A were attained by accessing network databases. We then determined the intersection of both genes through bioinformatics using R and Perl language. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by the STRING website (https://cn.string-db.org). The network analysis was done using Cytoscape software. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were applied for the above genes. Effective components as core targets were screened out based on the condition that the interaction must come first. These core targets were combined with 3D structures of main RNA coding proteins of influenza A virus. Molecular docking was used to visualize drug-target interaction via AutoDock Vina and PyMOL., Results: Twenty-eight active components and 40 target genes were acquired through the regulatory network of active components of RS and the PPI network. Seventy-one bioinformatics expressions were obtained through GO enrichment analysis (P<0.05). A total of 124 signaling pathways were screened by KEGG enrichment analysis (P<0.05). Acacetin, wogonin, baicalein, oroxylin A, and beta-sitosterol, which are rich in RS, are closely related to hemagglutinin (HA), NeurAminidase (NA), nucleoprotein (NP), polymerase basic protein 1 (PB1), polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2), polymerase acidic (PA), matrix protein 1 (M1), matrix protein 2 (M2), and non-structural protein (NS), which are the main RNA coding proteins of influenza A virus. The binding energies of these 8 proteins were less than -5 kJ/mol, indicating that the ligands had strong affinity with receptor proteins., Conclusions: RS is rich in core target compounds, and its mechanism of action is further expressed. It could have a good therapeutic effect for influenza A through multi-compound and multi-target regulation of these specific protein targets, and targets and pathways related to immunity and inflammation., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://atm.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/atm-22-1176/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Tonifying herbs and evil expelling herbs of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for chronic kidney diseases in molecular level were studied by computer aided drug design, including analysis of molecular similarity, predictive ADME simulation and predictive toxic simulation. It was found that this technology could distinguish the structure diversity of compounds from TCM, and screen the lead compounds rapidly.