Discovering traditional Chinese medicinal herbs for neurodegenerative disorders

Abstract

In this investigation, candidate traditional Chinese medicinal herbs for 3 neurodegenerative disorders, late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, late-onset Parkinson’s disease and Huntington disease were evaluated. The susceptibility genes were integrated to reconstruct traditional Chinese medicine-modern medicine network to discover the candidate herbs. For the 3 neurodegenerative disorders, the number of disease-related genes were increased from 2 to 16, which are directly associated with ingredients. Many traditional Chinese medicinal herbs associated with the 3 neurodegenerative disorders were identified (false discovery rate Benjamini-Hochberg<0.05). Four herbs for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease are related to β-amyloid 1-42 measurement-associated genes BCAM and APOE by ingredients resveratrol and kainic acid. There are 3 herbs correlated to late-onset Parkinson’s disease by both ingredient support and modern medicine symptom association evidence. Four traditional Chinese medicinal herbs are related to Huntington disease by ingredients. Available animal experiments in rats indicated that resveratrol could help to clean β-amyloid in brain to treat Alzheimer’s disease, probably through targeting LRP1 protein. This study provided a novel way to utilize genetic data to explore traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and a new insight into drug discovery of neurodegenerative disorders.