人參在消化系統疾病的網絡藥理學:健保資料庫的應用

Identifying the Network Pharmacology of Panax Ginseng in Digestive Diseases: Implications from the National Health Insurance Research Database

研究背景與動機：人參被廣為使用在各種疾病上，然而，目前尚未有研究針對人參在臨床上的使用狀況進行探討，本研究試圖探索在台灣人參使用者的特徵及人參的臨床使用情形，並將此結果進一步應用於網絡藥理學分析。材料與方法：從2000,2005,2010三個年度的健保資料庫百萬人承保抽樣歸人檔中，選取曾使用人參的患者，分析人參使用族群的特徵，以及使用人參的主要理由，並利用線上生物醫學資料庫進行網絡藥理學分析，評估人參在代表性疾病上的作用機制。結果：人參的使用量在有免疫或腫瘤病史的患者上升最多，消化系統疾病則是醫師開立含人參處方的主要原因，人參可能透過脂質代謝改善胃潰瘍、透過免疫調節改善發炎性腸道疾病。結論：由此研究可得知人參在台灣患者的臨床使用情形，以及人參如何作用在關鍵疾病上，可作為人參研究者及臨床醫師的重要資訊。

Background: Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. (PG) is a widely used natural product in many diseases. However, the status of PG use based on clinical experience remains unclear. This study aims to explore the characteristics of the PG users and how PG was prescribed in Taiwan, and the results are applied for further network pharmacology analysis. Methods: Patients who used PG were identified using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the presenting features of PG users, and the reasons of PG use compared to other CHM users. By querying online biomedical databases, network pharmacology was used to assess the possible molecular pathways acted upon by PG in digestive diseases. Results: PG usage rose most in patients with immune or neoplasm-related disorders history. Digestive diseases accounted the most common reasons for PG use. PG plays an important role in peptic ulcer disease through lipid metabolism and inflammatory bowel disease via immune regulation. Conclusion: This study offers a general overview of the status of PG use in Taiwan, and a description of how PG acts on key diseases, which should be useful for PG researchers and clinical physicians.