Drug addiction is a complex and chronic mental disease, which places a large burden on the American
healthcare system due to its negative effects on patients and their families. Recently, network
pharmacology is emerging as a promising approach to
drug discovery by integrating network
biology and polypharmacology, allowing for a deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms of drug actions at the systems level. This study seeks to apply this approach for investigation of illicit
drugs and their targets in order to elucidate their interaction patterns and potential secondary
drugs that can aid future research and clinical care. In this study, we extracted 188 illicit substances and their related information from the DrugBank database. The data process revealed 86 illicit
drugs targeting a total of 73 unique human genes, which forms an illicit drug-target network. Compared to the full drug-target network from DrugBank, illicit
drugs and their target genes tend to cluster together and form four subnetworks, corresponding to four major medication categories: depressants, stimulants, analgesics, and steroids. External analysis of Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) second sublevel classifications confirmed that the illicit
drugs have neurological functions or act via mechanisms of stimulants, opioids, and steroids.
Relevant Topics in Neuroscience & Psychology