Protective effects of the Bupi Yishen formula on renal fibrosis through PI3K/AKT signaling inhibition

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The Bupi Yishen Formula (BYF) is a patented Chinese herbal compound that has been long used to treat chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the clinic. However, its main active ingredients and underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated.

Aim: Identify the major active ingredients of BYF and investigate its protective effects and specific molecular mechanisms in renal fibrosis.

Methods: First, we performed network pharmacology analysis combined with molecular docking to predict the main active compounds, potential therapeutic targets, and intervention pathways that might exert the anti-fibrotic effect of BYF in the kidney. Then, we validated the predictions in both adenine-induced CKD rats and TGFβ1-induced HK-2 cells.

Results: A total of 233 common targets, 25 core targets, and 10 main active compounds from BYF were selected by network pharmacology analyses. Then, GO and KEGG functional enrichment analyses indicated that the renoprotection conferred by BYF against renal fibrosis was mainly associated with the PI3K/Akt signaling. Besides, the molecular docking showed that the 10 main active compounds of BYF were closely docked with three main PI3K/Akt pathway proteins. During the experimental validations, BYF improved renal impairment and alleviated fibrosis by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signaling activity in the kidney of adenine-induced CKD model rats. Moreover, increased PI3K/Akt signaling activation was associated with fibrotic phenotype changes in adenine-induced CKD rats and TGFβ1-induced HK-2 cells. On the other hand, BYF treatment reduced PI3K/Akt signaling activation and decreased renal fibrogenesis in a dose-dependent manner, thereby indicating that PI3K/Akt signaling was essential for BYF to exert its anti-fibrotic effects. Finally, the inhibitory effect of BYF on renal fibrogenesis was not enhanced while blocking the PI3K/Akt pathway with a broad spectrum PI3K Inhibitor (LY294002).

Conclusion: In the present study, we applied a comprehensive strategy based on systemic pharmacology to reveal the anti-fibrotic mechanisms of BYF, at least partially, through the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling activation. We also identified BYF as a potential therapeutic agent for renal fibrosis and CKD progression.