Exploring the mechanism of Notopterygii rhizoma et radix in the treatment of psoriasis using a network Pharmacology approach and experimental validation.

Psoriasis is a prevalent chronic inflammatory skin disease that significantly reduces patients' quality of life. Current treatments have limited efficacy and severe side effects, necessitating the development of new drugs. Notopterygii rhizoma et radix (Qiang Huo, QH), a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herb commonly studied for psoriasis patterns and treatment, requires further clarifications of its pharmacological mechanism. This study first verified the therapeutic effects of QH on Imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like mice and LPS-induced keratinocyte (HaCaT) model. Our study showed QH significantly alleviated skin symptoms, improved pathological changes, inhibited HaCaT proliferation, and reduced inflammation. Network pharmacology was then applied to explore QH's potential mechanism, revealing its main effects on phosphoinositide-3 kinase/protein kinase-B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR), Erbb, and interleukin-17 (IL-17) signaling pathways. Further experiments using IMQ-induced mice and LPS-induced HaCaT model confirmed QH's effects on the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Notably, this is the first study to demonstrate that QH exerts anti-psoriatic effects via modulation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, highlighting its multi-compound, multi-target pharmacological nature. QH relieves psoriasis severity in a "multi-compound and multi-target" manner, providing insight into the application of QH in psoriasis treatment. These findings present mechanistic insights into QH's therapeutic potential and suggest it as a promising multi-target alternative to conventional treatments for psoriasis.