Adefovir anticancer potential: Network pharmacology, anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects in HeLa cells

作者：Muzammal Mateen Azhar, Tahir Maqbool, Fatima Ali, Awais Altaf, Muhammad Atif, Zulfiqar Ali, Zahid Habib Qureshi, Muhammad Naveed, Tariq Aziz, Rania Ali El Hadi Mohamed, Fakhria A. Al‐Joufi, Maher S. Alwethaynani · 发表于：Biomolecules and Biomedicine · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.17305/bb.2025.12058 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Click Chemistry and Applications、Computational Drug Discovery Methods、Advanced Biosensing Techniques and Applications

Cervical cancer presents a significant healthcare challenge due to recurrent disease and drug resistance, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. Network pharmacology facilitates drug repurposing by elucidating multi-target mechanisms of action. Adefovir, an acyclic nucleotide analog, has shown promising potential in cervical cancer treatment, particularly in HeLa cells. In vitro studies have demonstrated that adefovir inhibits HeLa cell proliferation by enhancing apoptosis while maintaining a low cytotoxicity profile at therapeutic concentrations, making it an attractive candidate for further exploration. A combined network pharmacology and in vitro study was conducted to investigate the molecular mechanism of adefovir against cervical cancer. Potential gene targets for adefovir and cervical cancer were predicted using database analysis. Hub targets were identified, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed. Molecular docking assessed adefovir's binding affinity to key targets. In vitro cytotoxic assays, including 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and crystal violet assays, were performed using 96-well plates to evaluate anti-proliferative effects in HeLa cells. Apoptosis was assessed via p53 immunocytochemistry Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), while Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ELISA (VEGF ELISA) was used to measure cell proliferation. Venn analysis identified 144 common targets be...