A Network Pharmacology-and Molecular Docking-Based Analysis of the Anti-Hepatoma Mechanisms of Sanwu Huangqin Decoction with Experimental Validation
Objective Exploring the mechanisms of Sanwu Huangqin Decoction in the treatment of liver tumors based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technologies and experimental observations.Methods TCMSP database was used to screen the effective compounds contained in Sanwu Huangqin decoction,Drug bank,Pharm mapper,Uniport,PubMed and other databases were used to obtain the action targets of Sanwu Huangqin decoction,gene cards and TCGA databases were used to obtain the related targets of hepatocellular carcinoma,and the"drug-disease"target genes were obtained after the intersection with the action targets of Sanwu Huangqin decoction,and the protein interaction network was constructed using string database,David and KEGG databases were used for go and KEGG enrichment analysis,Cytoscape software was used to build the corresponding network,and discovery studios software was used for molecular docking to verify the above network pharmacology related results.The effects of Sanwu Huangqin decoction on the proliferation,the metastasis and the expression of IL-6 of cancer cells were observed.Results 81 effective components and 10 key components of Sanwu Huangqin decoction,249 targets,1420 differential targets between tumor samples and normal samples were obtained,and 59 overlapping targets were obtained.Frequency analysis of protein interaction network:the potential mechanism of Sanwu Huangqin Decoction in treating hepatocellular carcinoma is related to ESR1,Myc,Jun,IL-6,MMP9,EGF,etc.Through GO and KEGG enrichment analysis,IL-17 signaling pathway,TNF signaling pathway,Toll like receptor signaling pathway may play important roles.The results of molecular docking showed that acacetin,wogonin,baicalein,oroxylin a,beta sitosterol,8-isoopenenyl-kaempferol,formononetin,luteolin,quercetin,and stigmastrol bound to IL-6 protein,which further confirmed the above results.Animal experiments showed that Sanwu Huangqin decoction could inhibit the tumor size and the pulmonary metastasis,and the content of IL-6 in cancer cells was decreased,which preliminarily verified the anti-tumor effects and mechanism of Sanwu Huangqin decoction.Conclusion In this study,we found that IL-6 was the key target of Sanwu Huangqin decoction by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.Sanwu Huangqin decoction could reduce the content of IL-6 in tumor tissues to inhibit liver cancer in vivo.These results provided a theoretical basis for the application of Sanwu Huangqin decoction in the treatment of liver cancer.