Integration of Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Reveals the Therapeutic Mechanism Underlying Paeoniflorin for the Treatment of Allergic Asthma

Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease, which is characterized by airway remodeling, hyperreactivity and shortness of breath. Paeoniflorin is one of the major active ingredients in Chinese peony, which exerts anti-inflammatory and immune-regulatory effects in multiple diseases. However, it remains unclear whether paeoniflorin treatment can suppress allergic asthma. In this study, we evaluated the effect of paeoniflorin on lung function and airway inflammation in asthmatic mice. These asthmatic Balb/c mice were first sensitized and constructed through ovalbumin (OVA) motivation. Subsequently, we determined the mechanism of action of paeoniflorin in treating allergic asthma through integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic data sets. Our results demonstrated that many genes and metabolites were regulated in the paeoniflorin-treated mice. Moreover, the potential target proteins of paeoniflorin played important roles in fatty acid metabolism, inflammatory response, oxidative stress and local adhesion. Paeoniflorin has a beneficial effect on asthma, which may be achieved through regulating fatty acid metabolism, inflammatory response and the adhesion pathway at system level.