Mechanism of action of Scutellaria barbata combined with Codonopsis pilosula in the treatment of Bladder carcinoma based on network pharmacology and experimental validation
10.3760/cma.j.cn121382-20231009-00611
- VernacularTitle:基于网络药理学及实验验证探讨半枝莲-党参药对治疗膀胱癌的作用机制
- Author:
Yu ZHANG
1
;
Liming JIANG
;
Dawei TIAN
;
Changli WU
;
Shenglai LIU
Author Information
1. 天津市第五中心医院生态城医院泌尿外科,天津 300451
- Keywords:
Scutellaria barbata D. Don;
Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf.;
Couplet medicines;
Bladder carcinoma;
Network pharmacology;
Mechanism of action
- From:
International Journal of Biomedical Engineering
2023;46(6):549-557
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the mechanism of bladder cancer treatment by using Scutellaria barbata and Codonopsis pilosula drug pair through network pharmacology. Methods:The drug composition of the drug pair was screened using TCMSP, and their action targets were predicted using Swiss Target Prediction. GeneCards was used to obtain disease targets of bladder cancer, and venny 2.1 was used to obtain intersection targets. PPI analysis was performed using STRING, and a network diagram was constructed using Cytoscape. GO and KEGG analysis were conducted using Metascape. A drug-target-pathway network map was constructed using Cytoscape software. Nude mice were randomly divided into a model group and a treatment group to establish a bladder cancer mouse model. On the 8th day after model formation, the mice in the model group were administered intragastrically with a dose of 342.86 mg/kg, 0.2 ml, twice/day. On the 28th day after modeling, the tumor size of nude mice was measured. Prostaglandin G/H Synthetase 2 (PTGS2), PTGS1, Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 2 (NCOA2), Retinoic Acid X Receptor α (RXRA), Progesterone Receptor (PGR), Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 (MAPK1), Reticuloendothelial Proliferation virus oncogene homology A (RELA), and Akt1 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results:The results show that 45 active components of the drug pair directly acted on 187 disease targets through multiple pathways to treat bladder cancer, in which Quercetin, luteolin, wogonin, 7-Methoxy-2-methyl isoflavone, baicalein, beta-sitosterol, Stigmastero, and other core ingredients, as well as PTGS2, PTGS1, NCOA2, RXRA, PGR, MAPK1, RELA, and Akt1 are critical targets. The results of gene function annotation analysis show that the biological processes most likely related to crossover genes mainly involved responses to hormones, cell responses to lipids, responses to foreign stimuli, and responses to bacterial molecules. The cell components mainly involves transcription regulatory complexes, membrane rafts, membrane microregions, and RNA polymerase Ⅱ transcriptional regulatory complexes, etc. The molecular functions mainly involve transcription factor binding, DNA-binding transcription factor binding, RNA polymerase Ⅱ specific DNA-binding transcription factor binding, nuclear receptor activity, ligand-activated transcription factor activity, etc. The results of pathway enrichment analysis suggests that the main signaling pathways are AGE-RAGE, IL-17, PI3K-Akt, TNF, MAPK, HIF-1, apoptosis, p53, toll-like receptor, etc. Animal experiments show that the Scutellaria barbata and Codonopsis pilosula drug pair can significantly improve tumor size and also improve the expression levels of PTGS2, PTGS1, NCOA2, RXRA, PGR, MAPK1, RELA, and Akt1. Conclusions:The Scutellaria barbata and Codonopsis pilosula drug pair can regulate PTGS2, PTGS1, NCOA2, RXRA, PGR, MAPK1, RELA, and Akt1 and other diseases mainly through the regulation of AGE-RAGE, IL-17, PI3K-Akt, TNF, MAPK, HIF-1, apoptosis, p53, toll-like receptor, and other signaling pathways. Targeting enzyme activity and cell apoptosis can treat bladder cancer by regulating these biological processes.