Exploring the potential therapeutic mechanism of Da-Fang-Feng-Tang for rheumatoid arthritis

Da-Fang-Feng-Tang is a Chinese herbal formula designed to treat syndrome Feng-Han-Shi-Bi for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although it´s clinical effect have been accepted through 1000 years´ clinical practises, its molecule mechanism is still obscure. In this study, by integrating powerful knowledge databases, though bioinformatics analysis, we explored the potential molecular mechanism of Da-Fang-Feng-Tang for RA. The molecule mechanism analysis includes compositional herbal medicine, chemical compound, target protein, RA OMIM genes, and enriched pathways. As a result, Da-Feng-Feng-Tang´s 7 target proteins were matched in RA´s OMIM genes. What´s more, these 7 genes are mainly involved in three pathway hierarchies e.g., disease, immune system, and signal transduction. This research demonstrates that Da-Feng-Feng-Tang´s target proteins can regulate a wide range of systems associated with RA. This might indicate that Chinese herbal formula´s therapeutic effects are taken effects through system-level regulation rather than targeting only disease specified genes or proteins.