The efficacy and potential mechanism of Danggui Buxue Decoction in treating diabetic nephropathy: A meta-analysis and network pharmacology

Background: To evaluate the efficacy and potential pharmacological mechanisms of Danggui Buxue Decoction (DGBXD) in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Methods: Meta-analysis was used to conduct a comprehensive search of the literature for randomized controlled trials of DGBXD for diabetic nephropathy, followed by identification of quantitative literature based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and statistical analysis of the included data using Review Manager. The network pharmacology technique was used to screen the chemical components of DGBXD and their targets, disease targets, shared targets, and other associated information, and then apply bioinformatics technologies to annotate the key pathways. Using AutoDock and PyMol software, the 6 core targets were docked with the 7 main active components of DGBXD. Results: DGBXD complementary treatment significantly reduced 24 hours UTP, SCr and BUN levels and lowered blood glucose and lipid levels, improving clinical outcomes and modulating inflammatory factor levels. 22 active ingredients and 209 active targets were obtained for DGBXD, 245 core targets were obtained for diabetic nephropathy. The molecular docking results showed that all 7 components of DGBXD docked with 6 core targets had binding energies below −5. Conclusions: The findings suggest that DGBXD affects diabetic nephropathy through a multi-target, multi-component and multi-pathway mechanism.