Network Pharmacology‐Based Experimental Validation on the Mechanism of Cang’erzi Powder in Treating Asthma

Background: Cang’erzi powder, a medicinal formula, has had an extensive application in the treatment of asthma in China. Network pharmacological methods and experimental validation were used to investigate the underlying mechanism of Cang’erzi powder in asthma treatment. Methods: The active components and corresponding targets of Cang’erzi powder and asthma‐related targets were obtained from TCMSP or NCBI‐Gene, OMIM, and GeneCards. The “herb–compounds–targets–asthma” and target PPI networks were visualized with Cytoscape 3.7.1. Molecular docking was performed utilizing MOE software for the binding capacity between compounds and targets. Cell viability and apoptosis assay were tested by CCK8 kit and Muse analyzer for antiasthmatic effects of beta‐sitosterol, and the expression levels of six core targets were assessed by RT‐qPCR. Results: Ninety‐five ingredients and 62 intersected targets were identified. Molecular docking showed that the component beta‐sitosterol could stably bind to the predicted target. Moreover, beta‐sitosterol might accelerate cell viability and inhibit apoptosis in TNFα‐induced 16HBE cells. Moreover, beta‐sitosterol treatment led to decreases in the expression of PTGS2, JUN, MAPK14, and NOS2, while an increase in PTGS1 expression was observed. Conclusion: The antiasthmatic mechanism of the main active compound beta‐sitosterol in Cang’erzi powder might be associated with inhibiting proliferation and accelerating apoptosis through multiple targets.