• Linfu Yang, Wenzheng Zhao, Xueyang Gong, Dan Yue, Yiqiu Liu, Yakai Tian, and Kun Dong.
• Yunnan Provincial Engineering and Research Center for Sustainable Utilization of Honey Bee Resources, Eastern Bee Research Institute, College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Aug 11; 102 (32): e34728e34728.

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a type of difficult-to-cure arthralgia with a worldwide prevalence. It severely affects people's living standards. For a long time, bee venom has been used to treat RA and has shown good results. Melittin is the main active component of bee venom used for RA treatment, but the molecular mechanism of melittin in RA treatments remains unclear.MethodsPotential melittin and RA targets were obtained from relevant databases, and common targets of melittin and RA were screened. The STRING database was used to build the PPI network and screen the core targets after visualization. The core targets were enriched by Gene Ontology functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway. Finally, the binding of melittin to target proteins was evaluated through simulated molecular docking, which verified the reliability of the prediction results of network pharmacology.ResultsIn total, 138 melittin targets and 5795 RA targets were obtained from relevant databases, and 90 common targets were obtained through intersection. Eighteen core targets, such as STAT3, AKT1, tumor necrosis factor, and JUN, were screened out. Enrichment analysis results suggested that melittin plays an anti-RA role mainly through tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-17, toll-like receptors, and advanced glycation end products-RAGE signaling pathways, and pathogenic bacterial infection. Molecular docking results suggested that melittin has good docking activity with core target proteins.ConclusionRA treatment with melittin is the result of a multi-target and multi-pathway interaction. This study offers a theoretical basis and scientific evidence for further exploring melittin in RA therapy.Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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