Mechanisms of the Traditional Chinese Herb Atractylodes lancea against COVID-19 Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Atractylodes lancea (Thunb.) DC. (AL) has been proven to be effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, TCMSP, TCMID, OMIM, GeneCards, PharmMapper and SwissTargetPrediction were used to collect potential targets for AL against COVID-19. The online STRING analysis platform and Cytoscape were used for generating a (protein-protein interaction) PPI network. The Cytoscape and Autodock software were used for determining hub genes and key compounds. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed via DAVID database. A total of 84 common targets were obtained. The antiviral pathways were main pathways in traetment. 10 hub genes and key compounds were screened by CytoHubba. We found that AL2, AL6 and AL38 had lower binding energy with key proteins. Our study demonstrated that AL might be used to treat COVID-19 by improving the "cytokine storm", regulating some antiviral pathways, and inhibiting the key protein through which the SARS-CoV-2 invades the host cell. These findings give a pharmacological basis and support for treating COVID-19 with AL.