3.2 Identification of all core targets
All the mapped intersection proteins were input into Cytoscape 3.7.1 software, to calculate the topological parameters of the interaction network of targets and functionally related proteins of puerarin in the treatment of NCP. The algorithm from the network freedom median degree of 6.129 and freedom maximum degree of 15 was used to identify the core targets of puerarin to treat NCP. Therefore, the core target screening condition range was set to 7-15, and finally 14 core targets were obtained. These genes included EGFR, TNF, TP53, CASP3, RELA, FOS, CASP8, PTGS2, IL2, PRKCB, BCL2, PRKCA, NOS3, and PPARG, as shown in Figure 2 and Supplemental Table 1.