1.Mechanism of Yifei Sanjie Prescription in Treatment of Lung Adenocarcinoma via JAK2/STAT3/VEGF Signaling Pathway Based on Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification
Mengting MAO ; Mengjia DONG ; Youqi XU ; Weiliang LI
World Science and Technology-Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2023;25(9):3049-3062
Objective To predict the potential mechanism of Yifei Sanjie prescription in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma based on network pharmacology,and to verify one of the key signal pathways,Janus protein tyrosine kinase 2(JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3),by cell experiments in vitro.Methods To screen the main active components and potential action targets of Yifei Sanjie prescription,with traditional Chinese medicine system pharmacological database(TCMSP).To search and retrieve the main targets of lung adenocarcinoma,with human genetic database(GeneCards)and online human Mendelian genetic database(OMIM).To obtain the intersection targets by screening and apply Wayne diagram,then analysis the topology and establish the traditional Chinese medicine-active compound-target network diagram by using of Cytoscape 3.7.2 software.To construct the protein-protein interaction(PPI)network,with the protein-protein interaction platform(STRING)and Cytoscape3.7.2 software.To analyze the functional enrichment of gene ontology(GO)and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG),with the Metascape database.To carry out the molecular docking verification by using of Vina1.2.3 software.Using CCK-8 method to detect the effect of Yifei Sanjie prescription on cell activity.Using the cell scratch test to observe the effect on cell migration.And using Western blot method to test the expression of p-STAT3,STAT3,p-JAK2,JAK2 and VEGF-A.Results 94 active components,329 related drug targets and 1358 lung adenocarcinoma targets were obtained from Yifei Sanjie prescription,among which,150 of them intersected.PPI network visualization analysis shows that the potential key targets of Yifei Sanjie prescription in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma are protein kinase B1(AKT1),β-actin(ACTB),tumor suppressor gene p53(TP53),serum albumin(ALB),caspase-3(CASP3)and vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA).KEGG enrichment analysis screened 138 related signal pathways,indicating that JAK/STAT signaling pathway may play a key role in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma with Yifei Sanjie prescription.Molecular docking results showed that quercetin,luteolin,and ursolic acid had good binding activities with JAK2 and STAT3.The cell experiment showed that compared with the blank group,Yifei Sanjie prescription could significantly inhibit the activity of A549 cells,inhibit the migration of A549 cells,and decrease the expression of p-JAK2/JAK2,p-STAT3/STAT3 and VEGF-A protein.In addition,Colivelin,an activator of JAK2/STAT3 pathway,could reverse the effect of Yifei Sanjie prescription on the expression of A549 related proteins.Conclusion Yifei Sanjie prescription has the characteristics of multi-component,multi target and multi pathway in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma,and its mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of p-JAK2,p-STAT3 and VEGF-A protein expression,thereby inhibiting cell proliferation and migration.
2.Identification of Rehmannia glutinosa miR166 Family in Response to Endophytic Fungal Infection and Expression Analysis Under Stresses
Yunhao ZHU ; Jiao XU ; Mengjia ZHANG ; Chengming DONG ; Bo SHI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2023;29(2):133-140
ObjectiveTo identify the members of the Rehmannia glutinosa miR166 gene family and clarify the response mode under adversity. MethodHigh-throughput sequencing technology was employed to obtain a small RNA database and the miR166 family members of R. glutinosa were screened out. The precursor structures were analyzed by RNAfold. DNAMAN and MEGA were used for conservative and evolutionary analyses, respectively. TargetFinder software was used to predict the target genes of R. glutinosa miR166 family members. The expression of miR166 family members in response to abiotic stress was analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction(Real-time PCR). ResultFive miR166s were identified with precursors possessing complete stem-loop structures. As revealed by sequence alignment results, the precursors and matures were both highly conserved. Forty-eight target genes of miR166s were predicted, which were mainly annotated to the HD-ZIP Ⅲ family transcription factors. The expression characteristics showed that the expression of miR160s was up-regulated after R. glutinosa was infected by endophytic fungi, which was different from the expression of the family members under abiotic stress. The expression level of rgl-miR166b-5p in the drought-flood treatment group and the high-low temperature treatment group was significantly down-regulated compared with that in the control group, and the expression pattern was opposite under the endophytic fungal infection. ConclusionThe results of this study preliminarily clarified the expression patterns of R. glutinosa in response to biotic and abiotic stresses and provided a theoretical basis for future breeding and improvement of R. glutinosa.