Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of hyaluronic acid: Mechanistic investigations via topological and functional analysis of its protein interaction network

Ji Xi^1,2, Yu Li Ting¹, Li Xue¹, Luo Dan²

¹Department of Dermatology, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital; ²Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.

For correspondence:- Luo Dan Email: dannyluo2019@sina.com Tel:+8613951808478

Accepted: 26 August 2019 Published: 30 September 2019

Citation: Xi J, Ting YL, Xue L, Dan L. Effect of hyaluronic acid: Mechanistic investigations via topological and functional analysis of its protein interaction network. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(9):1919-1925 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i9.20

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To predict molecular targets and the mechanism of action of hyaluronic acid against various disease conditions.

Methods: The present study was designed and conducted based on the principle of network pharmacology, protein-protein interaction (PPI) database, and biological process analysis. At a high confidence score, a protein network comprising seventeen human protein targets was achieved from STITCH (Search Tool for Interaction of Chemicals).

Results: Cytoscape-based protein-protein interaction network (PPIN) with 342 nodes was developed and analyzed to ascertain the molecular basis of hyaluronic acid actions. It revealed that hyaluronic acid was mainly involved in various physiological processes including extracellular matrix (ECM) disassembly, collagen catabolic process, mucopolysaccharide metabolic process, and circadian regulation of gene expression.

Conclusion: The retrieved pathways are known to be involved in causing several pathologies such as leukemia, psoriasis, tick-borne encephalitis, etc. These pathways are influenced by hyaluronic acid. However, further explanations are required to elucidate whether these targets of hyaluronic acid have a therapeutic or toxicological role.

Keywords: Hyaluronic acid, Network pharmacology, Molecular targets, STITCH, Cytoscape, Biological effects