Jiashu Yang’s scientific contributions

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that predisposes to chronic damage and dysfunction of various organs, including leading to erectile dysfunction (ED) and asthenospermia. Literature suggests that ginseng plays an important role in the treatment and management of DM. Ginseng may have a therapeutic effect on the complications of DM-induced ED and asthenospermia. The study aimed to explore the mechanisms of ginseng in the treatment of DM-induced ED and asthenospermia following the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory of “treating different diseases with the same treatment.” This study used network pharmacology and molecular docking to examine the potential targets and pharmacological mechanism of Ginseng for the treatment of DM-induced ED and asthenospermia. The chemical ingredients and targets of ginseng were acquired using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology database and analysis platform. The targets of DM, ED, and asthenospermia were extracted with the GeneCards and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man databases. A protein–protein interaction network analysis was constructed. The Metascape platform was applied for analyzing the gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. AutoDock Vina was used to perform molecular docking. Network pharmacology revealed that the main active components of the target of action were kaempferol, beta-sitosterol, ginsenoside rh2, stigmasterol, and fumarine. Core targets of the protein–protein interaction network included TNF, IL-1β, AKT1, PTGS2, BCL2, and JUN. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis showed that they were mainly involved in AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, TNF signaling pathway, Lipid and atherosclerosis. The interactions of core active components and targets were analyzed by molecular docking. Ginseng may play a comprehensive therapeutic role in the treatment of DM-induced ED and asthenospermia through “multicomponent, multi-target, and multi-pathway” biological mechanisms such as inflammation and oxidative stress.

Background Diabetes mellitus-induced erectile dysfunction (DMED) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus. Earthworm protein (EWP) is an active protein extracted from the Chinese herbal medicine earthworm, which is used in clinical practice for treating DMED. Objective To investigate the mechanism of action of EWP in improving DMED in rats using network pharmacology and in vivo experimental validation. Materials and methods Network pharmacology predicts key targets. After identifying the DMED targets of EWP, a protein-protein interaction network was constructed using the STRING platform. The target genes were then enriched using Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. A “drug-component-disease-target-pathway” network map with Cytoscape 3.9.1 software was constructed. The nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway was selected for further in vivo experimental validation in rats. Results EWP was mainly involved in the inflammatory response and NF-κB signaling pathway to regulate DMED. In vivo experiments showed that EWP was able to reduce Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-6 and Tumour Necrosis Factor-α levels, significantly inhibit NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB inhibitor protein α and mRNA expression, increase serum testosterone (T), and improve the erectile function of DMED rats. Conclusion EWP improves erectile function in DMED rats. This mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway, reduction of the inflammatory response in testicular tissue, promotion of testicular and penile tissue repair, and increase in serum T levels.