Network pharmacology of AYUSH recommended immune-boosting medicinal plants against COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract Background: The Ministry of AYUSH recommended the use of a decoction of the mixture of Ocimum tenuiflorum, Cinnamomum verum, Piper nigrum, Zingiber officinale, and Vitis vinifera as a preventive measure to boost immunity and to inhibit the severity of infection caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Objective: The present study aimed to identify the probable modulated pathways via AYUSH recommended formulation as an immune booster against COVID-19.Materials and methods: Reported phytoconstituents of all the plants were retrieved from the ChEBI database, and their targets were predicted using DIGEP-Pred. STRING database and Cytoscape were used to predict the protein-protein interaction and construct the network interaction respectively. Likewise, MolSoft and admetSAR2.0 were used to predict the druglikeness score and ADMET profile of phytoconstituents. Results: The study identified the modulation of HIF-1, p53, PI3K-Akt, MAPK, cAMP, Ras, Wnt, NF-kappa B, IL-17, TNF, and cGMP-PKG signaling pathways to boost the immune system. Further, multiple pathways were also identified which are involved in the regulation of pathogenesis of the multiple infections and non-infectious diseases due to the lower immune system.Conclusion: Results indicated that the recommended herbal formulation not only modulated the pathways related to boost the immune system but also modulated the multiple pathways that are contributing in the progression of multiple disease pathogenesis which would add the beneficial effect in the special subjects like patients from hypertension and diabetes in which 4-hydroxychloroquine therapeutic approach cannot be made. The study provides the scientific documentation of the role of the Ayurvedic formulation to combat COVID-19.