MULTITARGET MECHANISMS AND TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF FARNESOL IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: A NETWORK PHARMACOLOGY APPROACH

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder characterized by oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, amyloid-beta accumulation, and neuronal apoptosis. The present study investigated the therapeutic potential of farnesol against AD using a network pharmacology and in silico toxicity approach. Potential targets of farnesol and AD-associated genes were retrieved from public databases, and overlapping targets were subjected to protein–protein interaction, Gene Ontology (GO), and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Farnesol-associated targets were significantly involved in oxidative stress regulation, inflammatory signaling, apoptosis, and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathways, as confirmed by the results. In addition, toxicity prediction was assessed by using ProTox-3.0, which showed a favorable safety profile and low probabilities for carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, hepatotoxicity, and cardiotoxicity, along with high blood–brain barrier permeability. Neuroprotective signaling pathways such as Nrf2/ARE and PPAR-γ showed good interaction with farnesol. Though farnesol can have the ability to act as a multitarget neuroprotective agent for Alzheimer’s disease management, further studies need to be carried out to explore the potential of farnesol for further confirmation.