Integrating transcriptomics, metabolomics, and network pharmacology to investigate multi-target effects of Sporoderm-broken spores of Ganoderma lucidum on improving HFD-induced diabetic nephropathy rats
a Department of Nephrology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China;
b Centre for Global Health, Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh, 5-7 Little France Road, Edinburgh, EH16 4UX, UK;
c Department of Big Data in Health Science School of Public Health, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, China;
d Hubei Normal University. No. 11, Cihu Road, Huangshi, 435002, Hubei, China;
e Department of Nephrology, Hangzhou TCM Hospital, Hangzhou, 310007, Zhejiang, China;
f Kidney Disease Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, Zhejiang, China g Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou, 310020, Zhejiang, China. h Department of Urology, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin Institute of Urology, Tianjin, 300211, China
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The authors express great appreciation to all former and current members of Hu’s Lab and Chen’s Lab, for the insightful conversation and outstanding contributions of this research. We are also grateful to Yingping Xiao for professional expert in the experimental processes.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major metabolic disease endangering global health, with diabetic nephropathy (DN) as a primary complication lacking curative therapy. Sporoderm-broken spores of Ganoderma lucidum (GLP), an herbal medicine, has been used for the treatment of metabolic disorders. In this study, DN was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats using streptozotocin (STZ) and a high-fat diet (HFD), and the protective mechanisms of GLP were investigated through transcriptomic, metabolomic, and network pharmacology analyses. Our results demonstrated that GLP intervention ameliorated renal damage and inflammation levels in DN rats. Integrative metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis revealed that GLP treatment modulated glucose and cellular energy metabolisms by regulating relevant genes. GLP significantly suppressed the inflammations by impacting glucose and energy metabolism- related gene expression (Igfbp1 and Angptl4) and enhanced metabolic biomarkers of 4- Aminocatechol. In addition, network pharmacology analysis further indicated that GLP may efficiently alleviate DN via immune-related pathways. In conclusion, this study provides supportive evidence of the anti-inflammatory effects of GLP supplements, highlighting their potential for promising clinical applications in treating diabetic nephropathy.