A large-scale transcriptional study reveals inhibition of COVID-19 related cytokine storm by traditional Chinese medicines

Yifei Dai, Weijie Qiang, Yu Gui, Xue Tan, Tianli Pei, Kequan Lin, Siwei Cai, Liang Sun, Guochen Ning, Jianxun Wang, Hongyan Guo, Yimin Sun, Jing Cheng, Lan Xie, Xun Lan, Dong Wang · Science Bulletin · 2021 May 15

DOI 10.1016/j.scib.2021.01.005

Objective

Facilitated by HTS2 technology, we evaluated the effects of 578 herbs and all 338 reported anti-COVID-19 TCM formulae on cytokine storm-related signaling pathways, and identified the key targets of the relevant pathways and potential active ingredients in these herbs.

Conclusions

For the first time, it systematically explores the molecular mechanism of TCM in regulating the COVID-19-related cytokine storm, providing an important scientific basis for elucidating the mechanism of action of TCM in treating COVID-19.

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Insights

Qingfei Paidu Decoction might significantly inhibit IL-6 and TNF-α signaling pathways in regulating COVID-19-related cytokine storm.

We evaluated the effects of 578 herbs and all 338 reported anti-COVID-19 TCM formulae on cytokine storm-related signaling pathways, and identified the key targets of the relevant pathways and potential active ingredients in these herbs. A total of 16 herbs was identified to have a significant inhibitory effect on the IL-6 pathway, while 37 herbs suppress the TNF-α pathway significantly. In the heatmap of gene expression induced by these herbs, more than half of the genes are down-regulated, suggesting that these herbs have a significant inhibitory effect on the expression of cytokine storm-related genes. By combining the HTS2 assay and herb scoring results, we constructed a formula-herb-gene-pathway network diagram of Qingfei Paidu Decoction. In this formula, we identified 4 herbs with an inhibitory effect on the IL-6 or TNF-α pathways, including Guizhi, which significantly inhibits the IL-6 pathway, and Shegan, Baizhu, and Zexie, which significantly inhibit the TNF-α pathway.