Background and Objective: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of infant lower respiratory tract infections with no mature vaccines and medicines available. Pneumonia caused by RSV kills many infants every year. There are unique advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to fight against the virus. Houttuynia cordata Thunb is a commonly used antivirus medicine in TCM, but its mechanism has not been investigated. The current study explores the anti-RSV mechanism of H. cordata Thunb by means of network pharmacology and bioinformatics.

Methods: The candidate compounds of H. cordata Thunb and the potential targets were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), PubMed, CNKI, PubChem Database, and Swiss Target Prediction database. Then the potential targets and pathways of H. cordata Thunb against RSV were screened by GeneCards, GenCLiP 3, and NCBI Database. We developed a Protein-Protein Interactions (PPI) Network and Compound-Target-Pathway Network through the Cytoscape software. Furthermore, core targets were preliminary verified by Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database by bioinformatics methods. At last, the first six pathways were screened out to draw a map of the main target signal pathways.

Results: A total of 12 potentially active compounds and 47 potential interaction targets were screened. PPI Network and data from GEO showed that IL-6, STAT3, TNF, AKT1, PTGS2, SRC, and MAPK3 may play a core role in the antivirus process. KEGG enrichment pathway analysis predicted that H. cordata Thunb exerted its anti-RSV effect by regulating TNF, Rap1, HIF-1, PI3KAkt, MAPK, and VEGF signaling pathways.

Conclusion: This study preliminarily predicted the main active compounds, targets and related pathways of H. cordata Thunb in the treatment of RSV-induced diseases, which laid a good foundation for further revealing its mechanism.

背景与目的：呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）是婴儿下呼吸道感染的主要原因，目前尚无成熟的疫苗和药物。每年由 RSV 引起的肺炎会导致许多婴儿死亡。中医药对抗病毒具有独特的优势。鱼腥草是中医常用的抗病毒药物，但其作用机制尚未研究。本研究通过网络药理学和生物信息学的方法探讨了H. cordata Thunb的抗RSV机制。

方法：从中药系统药理学数据库和分析平台（TCMSP）、PubMed、CNKI、PubChem数据库和瑞士靶点预测数据库中获得H. cordata Thunb的候选化合物和潜在靶点。然后通过 GeneCards、GenCLiP 3 和 NCBI 数据库筛选 H. cordata Thunb 对抗 RSV 的潜在靶点和途径。我们通过 Cytoscape 软件开发了蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用 (PPI) 网络和化合物-靶标-通路网络。此外，通过生物信息学方法，基因表达综合（GEO）数据库对核心靶点进行了初步验证。最后筛选出前6条通路，绘制出主要目标信号通路图。

结果：共筛选出 12 个潜在活性化合物和 47 个潜在相互作用靶点。PPI Network 和 GEO 的数据显示，IL-6、STAT3、TNF、AKT1、PTGS2、SRC 和 MAPK3 可能在抗病毒过程中发挥核心作用。KEGG 富集通路分析预测，H. cordata Thunb 通过调节 TNF、Rap1、HIF-1、PI3KAkt、MAPK 和 VEGF 信号通路发挥其抗 RSV 作用。

结论：本研究初步预测了H. cordata Thunb治疗RSV所致疾病的主要活性成分、靶点及相关通路，为进一步揭示其作用机制奠定了良好基础。