Molecular mechanism of an aspirin compound for alleviation of osteoporosis using nerwork pharmacology and molecular docking

Abstract

The aspirin compound (AC) is commonly found to have a wide range of
pharmacological activities. This study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of
the anti-osteoporotic (anti-OP) activity of AC using network pharmacology and molecular
docking approaches. First, AC targets were identified using the GeneCards database, and
second, OP-related targets were mined using a combination of the GeneCards and
DisGeNet databases. The intersection targets from the Genecards, AC, and OP databases
were considered candidate targets and were utilized to calculate protein-protein interactions
between targets. We discovered a C4A intersection target in the Genecards, AC, and OP
databases. This is useful for molecular binding. In addition, we obtained 11 additional
prospective targets that may be used to attach the AC molecule to these targets. At the
intersection region of the AC and OP target groups are the target genes HLA-DQA1, HLADQB1, RPL31, SATB2, SP1, and WNT1. And at the intersection region of the GeneCards
and OP databases, we discovered the anti-OP target genes CTSK, PDIA2, RARG, and
TBC1D8. They are crucial binding targets that interact with other protein targets.
According to the protein-protein interaction network, C4A showed the highest binding
capacity with other proteins. The gene ontology (GO) analysis performed in this work
found the 10 biological processes, 10 cellular components, 9 molecular activities, and 13
biological pathways. Furthermore, C4A and 10 candidate targets are associated with
homologous genes mainly involved in the signaling pathways of the Kyoto Encyclopedia
of Genomics and Genomics (KEGG). The AC molecule was found to be highly bound to
11 target candidates. This study identified candidate targets for AC to alleviate OP using
the search for protein-protein interactions and the associated signaling pathways of the
targets to endorse AC against OP. This may help us understand the mechanism of action of
AC during OP treatment.