Potential Mechanisms of Guizhi Fuling Wan in Treating Endometriosis: An Analysis Based on TCMSP and DisGeNET Databases

Yee JL, Jian-Looi Yee, Huang CY, Chun-Yen Huang, Chun‐Yen Huang, Ya-Chun Yu, Yu YC, S. Joseph Huang, Huang SJ
Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2024 · vol. 329 , pp. 118190 · doi:10.1016/j.jep.2024.118190 · PMID:38614264 · W4394796420
Review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 2 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-07-09 ⓘ

Guizhi Fuling Wan may inhibit endometriosis by modulating immunity, apoptosis, and angiogenesis, potentially via AGE-RAGE, Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, human cytomegalovirus, and fluid shear stress pathways.

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Abstract

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Guizhi Fuling Wan (GFW), is a traditional Chinese herbal formula that consists of Cinnamomi Ramulus (Guizhi), Poria Cocos(Schw.) Wolf. (Fuling), Persicae Semen (Taoren), Radix Paeoniae Rubra (Chishao), and Cortex Moutan (Mudanpi). This formula has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 1800 years to treat disorders caused by stagnation of circulation and qi (air). AIM OF THE STUDY: Based on pre-clinical and clinical studies, this review aimed to reveal the potential mechanisms of GFW in inhibiting endometriosis. The enhancement of therapeutic effects of western medications on endometriosis by GFW was also shown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A bibliographic assessment of publications on "Guizhi Fuling Wan" and "endometriosis" indexed in PubMed, Science Direct, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was conducted. Five pre-clinical studies and 13 clinical studies were selected for this review. Moreover, the targeted molecules of each herb were first extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) Database and Analysis Platform followed by obtaining the endometriosis-related genes from DisGeNET. Subsequently, pathway and gene ontology analyses using David Bioinformatics Resources explored the potential mechanisms of therapeutic effects of GFW in treating endometriosis. RESULTS: Pre-clinical and clinical studies showed that GFW might inhibit the growth of endometriotic lesion through the modulation of immunity, apoptosis-regulating molecules, and angiogenesis-associated factors, while enhancing the therapeutic effects of western medications in treating endometriosis. Furthermore, pathway and gene ontology analyses demonstrated that GFW might attenuate the disease primarily by affecting AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications (hsa04933) as well as pathways involved in Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection (hsa05167), human cytomegalovirus infection (has05163), and fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis (hsa05418). These pathways were all involved in the regulation of inflammation, angiogenesis, and apoptosis and commonly affected by all herbs. CONCLUSIONS: The current review revealed that endometriosis is highly associated with aberrant inflammatory, angiogenic, and apoptotic activities. The therapeutic effects of GFW on endometriosis are likely to act through regulating these activities.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal Drugs, Chinese Herbal

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (58)

Cited by (2)

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