Molecular mechanism of Ganji Fang in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma based on network pharmacology, molecular docking and experimental verification technology

作者：Miaolun Yang, Qian Yan, Yuehua Luo, Boqing Wang, Shicong Deng, Huiyan Luo, Baoqian Ye, Xiongwen Wang · 发表于：Frontiers in Pharmacology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fphar.2023.1016967 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Cancer Mechanisms and Therapy、Glutathione Transferases and Polymorphisms、Genomics, phytochemicals, and oxidative stress

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor harmful to human health. Ganji Fang (GJF) has good clinical efficacy in the treatment of HCC, but its mechanism is still unclear. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of action of GJF in the treatment of HCC through network pharmacology, molecular docking and in vitro experiments. Methods: A series of network pharmacology methods were used to identify the potential targets and key pathways of GJF in the treatment of HCC. Then, molecular docking technology was used to explore the binding ability of key active ingredients and targets in GJF. Multiple external databases were used to validate the key targets. In in vitro experiments, we performed MTT assays, wound-healing assays, cell cycle assays, apoptosis assays and RT‒qPCR to verify the inhibitory effect of GJF on the Human hepatoma G2 (HepG2) cells. Result: A total of 162 bioactive components and 826 protein targets of GJF were screened, and 611 potential targets of HCC were identified. Finally, 63 possible targets of GJF acting on HCC were obtained. KEGG enrichment analyses showed that the top five pathways were the cell cycle, cellular senescence, p53 signaling pathway, PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation. Among them, we verified the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. CCNE1, PKN1, CCND2, CDK4, EPHA2, FGFR3, CDK6, CDK2 and HSP90AAI were enriched in the PI3K/Akt pathway. The molecular docking results show...