Sun Jijia, Han Tao, Yang Tao, Chen Yunhui, Huang Jihan
Center for Drug Clinical Research, Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Service Collaborative Innovation Center, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2021 May 19;2021:6616908. doi: 10.1155/2021/6616908. eCollection 2021.
To investigate the mechanisms through which Yinchenhao decoction (YCHD) inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we analyzed YCHD ingredients absorbed into the bloodstream by using network pharmacology. We conducted a weighted gene coexpression network analysis on gene expression data collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas databases to derive an HCC gene set; moreover, we used four online prediction system databases to predict the potential targets of YCHD ingredients absorbed into the bloodstream. We discovered that YCHD directly interfered with 17 HCC-related disease targets. Subsequent gene ontology enrichment analyses of these 17 disease targets revealed that YCHD exhibited effects through 17 biological processes, 7 molecular functions, and 9 cellular components. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses indicated 14 pathways through which YCHD inhibits HCC. We observed similar trends in how the 17 small molecules interfered with the key target set. We surmised that YCHD inhibits HCC by regulating inflammatory and metabolic pathways. Network pharmacological analysis of YCHD ingredients absorbed into the bloodstream may provide new insights and serve as a new method for discovering the molecular mechanisms through which YCHD inhibits HCC.
为了探究茵陈蒿汤（YCHD）抑制肝细胞癌（HCC）的机制，我们运用网络药理学分析了进入血液循环的茵陈蒿汤成分。我们对从基因表达综合数据库（Gene Expression Omnibus）和癌症基因组图谱数据库（The Cancer Genome Atlas）收集的基因表达数据进行加权基因共表达网络分析，以得出肝细胞癌基因集；此外，我们使用四个在线预测系统数据库来预测进入血液循环的茵陈蒿汤成分的潜在靶点。我们发现茵陈蒿汤直接干扰了17个与肝细胞癌相关的疾病靶点。随后对这17个疾病靶点进行基因本体富集分析，结果显示茵陈蒿汤通过17个生物学过程、7个分子功能和9个细胞成分发挥作用。京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析表明茵陈蒿汤通过14条途径抑制肝细胞癌。我们观察到这17种小分子干扰关键靶点集的方式有相似趋势。我们推测茵陈蒿汤通过调节炎症和代谢途径来抑制肝细胞癌。对进入血液循环的茵陈蒿汤成分进行网络药理学分析可能会提供新的见解，并成为发现茵陈蒿汤抑制肝细胞癌分子机制的新方法。
