LAUSR

Abstract Background Puffball is a common Chinese medicine of edible and medicinal fungus. It promotes hemostasis and muscle regeneration. Recent studies have shown that puffball has a limiting effect on pain and inflammation, but the specific mechanism behind this action remains unclear. This study aimed to reveal the pharmacological mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of puffball using the network pharmacology method. Methods TCMSP and SwissTargetPrediction were used to analyze and predict the active ingredients and corresponding targets in puffball. The DisGeNET and GeneCards databases were searched to obtain inflammation-related targets, and the PPI network of the cross-genes of puffball ingredients and diseases was constructed through STRING and Cytoscape. The Metascape database was used for GO function enrichment analysis of co-presence genes and KEGG signal pathway enrichment analysis to construct an “ingredient-target-pathway” network and analyze its mechanism of action. Meanwhile, molecular docking was used to verify the ability of active ingredients to bind to key targets. Results A total of 6 inflammation-related active ingredients were screened from the 32 candidate compounds of puffball, and 236 targets that correspond to ingredients and 328 inflammation-related targets were collected. In summary, the β-sitosterol and melanin components in puffball can act on signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT3) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) targets and are mainly differentiated through Th17 cells signal pathway and cancer-related pathway to play an anti-inflammatory effect. Conclusion This study has successfully predicted the active ingredients and potential targets of Puffball's anti-inflammatory effects, which helped to systematically elucidate its mechanism of action. The network pharmacology method can provide new insights for the research and development of edible and medicinal fungi.