Abstract:Objective:To explore the mechanism of Jiangru Prescription in treating plasma cell mastitis (PCM) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. Methods:The main active components of Jiangru Prescription and their target genes were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicines Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and the target genes were corrected using the UniProt database. Diseaserelated targets of PCM were acquired from databases including GeneCards,DrugBank and DisGeNET. The intersection between active component targets and disease-related targets yielded the therapeutic target genes of Jiangru Prescription for PCM. Cytoscape 3.10.0 software was employed to construct a Jiangru Prescription-active components-diseasetargets network. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis of the medicinal-disease intersection targets was conducted using the STRING database;Gene Ontology( GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of PPI network targets were performed using the DAVID database and the Microbioinformatics database. Finally, molecular docking validation was conducted on the obtained active components of medicine and core targets. Results:Through the TCMSP database,167 active components and 911 targets of active ingredients of Jiangru Prescription and 295 disease targets of PCM were screened out. Analysis on medicinal-disease targets revealed 44 common targets between Jiangru Prescription and PCM. The Jiangru Prescriptionactive components-disease-targets network showed that active components with higher degree values included bicuculline,epiberberine,linolenic acid ethyl ester and chaksine. The top 10 targets with higher degree value were tumor necrosis factor( TNF),interleukin( IL)-6,signal transducer and activator of transcription 3( STAT3),IL-1β, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM1),C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 8 gene (CXCL8), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) and cyclin D1 (CCND1). GO enrichment analysis showed that it mainly involved signal transduction,inflammatory response,positive regulation of MAP kinase activity, positive regulation of gene expression, etc. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that it mainly involved receptor for advanced glycation end products (AGE)-receptor for AGE (RAGE), cancer, lipid and atherosclerosis, phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT), nuclear factor (NF)- κB and other signaling pathways in diabetic complications. Molecular docking validation showed that the key active components had strong binding affinity with core targets. Conclusion:Jiangru Prescription for PCM acts on core targets such as TNF, IL-6, STAT3, IL-1β, and EGFR through active components such as bicuculline, epiberberine, ethyl linolenate, chaksine, and 5, 7, 4′-trihydroxy-8-methyldihydroflavone, and regulates AGE-RAGE, cancer, lipid and atherosclerosis,PI3K/AKT,NF-κB and other signaling pathways in diabetic complications.