Network pharmacology and in vitro validation to elucidate the molecular mechanism of Boswellia serrata phytoconstituents on inflammation

Boswellia serrata is a popular medicinal plant used to treat various inflammatory diseases. However, its molecular mechanism for treating inflammation is still unknown. In this study, a network pharmacology-based technique was used to deconvolute the mechanism of action of Boswellia serrata against inflammation. Phytoconstituents were obtained from public resources, and targets of these compounds were predicted using SEA and SuperPred servers. Targets of inflammation were gathered from the TTD, Drugbank, and AICD databases. The collected data, consisting of 367 targets of the 39 bioactive compounds in Boswellia serrata were further analyzed by constructing various networks using Cytoscape software. Based on the network analysis, 27 targets were identified as the key targets of Boswellia serrata phytoconstituents. The enrichment analysis identified ErbB, estrogen, prostate cancer, PI3K-Akt, Ras, and MAPK signaling pathways as the key pathways targeted by the Boswellia serrata phytoconstituents. In-vitro investigation revealed that two compounds viz., alpha-boswellic acid and geraniol had anti-inflammatory effects synergistically on the MAPK pathway in the treatment of inflammation. Molecular docking results revealed the mode of interaction of alpha-boswellic acid and geraniol with the ERK1/2 targets. This study provided insight into the multi-component, multi-target and synergistic effect of the phytoconstituents in Boswellia serrata as an anti-inflammatory agent.