Understanding the Habitual Pattern of Concomitant Consumption of Herbs to Alleviate the Symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis by Comparative Proteome Analysis

Anchang decoction is an empirical prescription for the treatment of ulcerative colitis in China. In order to better understand its therapeutic function, large efforts have been made to identify its chemical constituents and to unravel the efficacy of its principal constituents. However, the molecular mechanism of its combinations is still unclear. Proteomics application has yielded some positive results in drug development and the identification of potential drug targets, suggesting the potential of this analytical approach to explore the action of molecular mechanisms of herbal formula by robustly addressing dynamic proteome changes. Label-free quantification and parallel reaction monitoring were used to identify differentially expressed proteins in the colon tissue of ulcerative colitis rats, fed with Anchang decoction and mesalazine, respectively. In this study, a total of 1,182 proteins were identified. From GO and KEGG analyses, the proteins of cytoskeleton and cytochrome P450 changed significantly with the occurrence of ulcerative colitis. In the meantime, antigen binding proteins and antioxidant-related proteins turned out to have drastic fluctuations with mesalazine and Anchang decoction. It has also been confirmed that KRT8, MYH11, FLNA, and LMNA are all related to the formation of ulcerative colitis based on parallel reaction monitoring analysis. The increase in FGG in the ulcerative colitis rat model is due to mesalazine, whereas that in KRT8 is due to Anchang decoction. The results from this study provide insights for the mechanism of action of Anchang decoction, which turns out to be an efficient technical pipeline for understanding worldwide medicinal herbs