Abstract:Objective:To discuss the mechanism of Cinnamomi Ramulus-Paeoniae Radix Alba couplet medicinals in treating rheumatoid arthritis(RA) based on GEO gene chip, bioinformatics and molecular docking. Methods: The gene chip data set of RA was downloaded from the GEO database, and the differential expression targets were screened by R software;databases,such as TCMSP and PharmMapper, were used to obtain the chemical components and targets of Cinnamomi Ramulus- Paeoniae Radix Alba couplet medicinals,and Cytoscape 3.9.1 and R software were used to carry out the topology analysis of the protein-protein interaction(PPI) network of medicine-disease intersection targets ; packages , including clusterProfiler package, were used to perform gene ontology(GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) enrichment analysis on the intersection targets; softwares, such as AutoDock Vina, were used to perform molecular docking for preliminary validation. Results: A total of 17 chemical components of medicine,3 781 RA targets and 410 medicine targets were obtained;a total of 98 medicinedisease intersection targets were screened out. The core targets of topology analysis of PPI included matrix metalloproteinase- 9(MMP-9) , matrix metalloproteinase- 2(MMP-2) , catalase(CAT) , Serpin Family A Member 1(SERPINA1), cathepsin B(CTSB) and so on; the main chemical compounds of Cinnamomi Ramulus- Paeoniae Radix Alba couplet medicinals in treating RA are taxiflin,β- sitosterol,(+ ) - catechin, paeoniflorin and so on. Potential targets involved in collagen decomposition and metabolism,extracellular matrix decomposition, inflammatory response regulation and other biological processes, involving pathways such as lysosomes, peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor(PPAR) signaling pathway and cytochrome P450 metabolism. Molecular docking showed that Cinnamomi Ramulus- Paeoniae Radix Alba couplet medicinals had high binding activity between the main chemical compounds and the core targets. Conclusion:The multi-target,multi-component and multi-pathway mechanism of Cinnamomi Ramulus- Paeoniae Radix Alba in treating RA provides a theoretical basis for the follow- up study of Cinnamomi Ramulus-Paeoniae Radix Alba couplet medicinals.