Discovery of Active Ingredient of Yinchenhao Decoction Targeting TLR4 for Hepatic Inflammatory Diseases Based on Deep Learning Approach

Yinchenhao Decoction (YCHD), a classic formula in traditional Chinese medicine, is believed to have the potential to treat liver diseases by modulating the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) target. Therefore, a thorough exploration of the effective components and therapeutic mechanisms targeting TLR4 in YCHD is a promising strategy for liver diseases. In this study, the AIGO-DTI deep learning framework was proposed to predict the targeting probability of major components in YCHD for TLR4. Comparative evaluations with four machine learning models (RF, SVM, KNN, XGBoost) and two deep learning models (GCN, GAT) demonstrated that the AIGO-DTI framework exhibited the best overall performance, with Recall and AUC reaching 0.968 and 0.991, respectively.This study further utilized the AIGO-DTI model to identify the potential impact of Isoscopoletin, a major component of YCHD, on TLR4. Subsequent wet experiments revealed that Isoscopoletin could influence the maturation of Dendritic Cells (DCs) induced by Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through TLR4, suggesting its therapeutic potential for liver diseases, especially hepatitis. Additionally, based on the AIGO-DTI framework, this study established an online platform named TLR4-Predict to facilitate domain experts in discovering more compounds related to TLR4. Overall, the proposed AIGO-DTI framework accurately predicts unique compounds in YCHD that interact with TLR4, providing new insights for identifying and screening lead compounds targeting TLR4.