Network Biological Modeling: A Novel Approach to Interpret the Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory of Exterior-Interior Correlation Between the Lung and Large Intestine

Objective

To study the common pathogenesis of pneumonia and colitis using modern biological network analysis tools, and to explore the theory that the lung and large intestine are exteriorly and interiorly related.

Methods

The relevant target genes (hereinafter, “targets”) of pneumonia and colitis were separately queried on the GeneCards database. The main targets of the two diseases were then screened out according to their correlation scores and intersected to obtain those common to the two diseases. Metascape was used to analyze the main and common targets identified, and the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) was used to enrich and analyze the common targets. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to build the network diagram.

Results

In total, 54 targets, such as TNF, IL-10, IL-6, IL-2, IL-4, TLR4, TLR2, CXCL8, IL-17A and IFNG, etc., are common to pneumonia and colitis, which are mainly enriched in these processes such as cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, the T-cell receptor signaling pathway, the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway and the Jak-STAT signaling pathway. The Metascape modular analysis identified 11 modules for pneumonia, six modules for colitis, and two modules for the common targets.

Conclusions

Pneumonia and colitis have the same pathogenic targets and mechanisms of action and finally interact with each other through inflammatory reactions and immune responses. This provides a probable molecular mechanism that explains the theory that the lung and large intestine are exteriorly and interiorly related.