Discovery of natural inhibitors for osteoarthritis targeting inflammatory pathway with pharmacoinformatics and molecular docking

Abstract

Ziziphus jujuba is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant, whose fruit (Jujubae fructus) has been highly utilized in herbal medicine for decades. The fruit of this plant contains a wide variety of phytochemicals having efficacious biological activity. These phytochemicals have been utilized in this study to discover potential drug candidates in preventing osteoarthritis (OA) progression using network pharmacology and molecular docking method. The phytochemicals information of Jujubae fructus was obtained from the TCMSP database, which were screened for druglikeness and oral bioavailability. Screened compounds were explored for Network pharmacology using BATMAN-TCM database and Molecular Docking with IGEMDOCK 2.1. Obtained compounds from this analysis were used to predict their ADMET properties. Network pharmacology analysis showed that Mairin, Oleanonic acid, Oleanolic acid, and Stigmasterol reduce inflammation and activate Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors (PPARs) signaling pathway to intervene with OA progression. Molecular docking predicted that Mairin, Oleanonic acid, and Stigmasterol reduce inflammation by targeting Janus-kinase-2 protein. All these compounds have moderate ADMET qualities, which need to be calibrated to counteract their toxic effect and increase the drug effectivity. Mairin, Oleanonic acid, and Stigmasterol are the potential phytochemicals of Jujubae fructus playing a therapeutic role in OA. These compounds can be further explored for invitro and clinical studies.