Mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

To investigate the mechanism of curcumin in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR) by network pharmacology and molecular docking.

The compounds targets of curcumin were predicted by SEA and SwissTargetPrediction databases, and the DR target genes were obtained by CTD database.The different genes were mapped and matched by Venny database to screen their intersections.The intersecting genes were submitted to GeneMANIA database to construct a protein-protein interaction network.WebGestalt database was used to conduct enrichment analysis and AutoDock Vina was used to perform molecular docking of the core targets.

A total of 52 targets of curcumin, 1 599 targets of DR and 48 intersecting targets were detected.The core targets were serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (AKT1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), signal transduction and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and heat shock protein 90 alpha family class A member 1 (HSP90AA1). Enrichment analysis suggested that these targets were mainly associated with signaling pathways, including the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway, interleukin (IL)-17 signaling pathway and advanced glycosylation end product-the receptor of advanced glycosylation end product (AGE-RAGE) signaling pathway.

Curcumin may play an important role in the treatment of DR by regulating multiple signaling pathways to inhibit the inflammatory response and combat oxidative stress.