Xu Wenqian, Hu Bin, Cheng Yuliang, Guo Yahui, Yao Weirong, Qian He
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China; International Joint Laboratory on Food Safety, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.
Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2022 Jan;142:106115. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2021.106115. Epub 2021 Nov 4.
Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench (Ep) is widely used as a kind of dietary supplements, and possesses various pharmacological activities, including immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antitumor effects. However, the inhibitory effects of Ep on the growth and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. Here, the preventive effect and potential mechanism of Ep on HCC was elucidated by systems pharmacology and molecular docking. The results showed that Ep could significantly ameliorate HCC-induced tumor growth and migration in vivo and in vitro. System pharmacology results indicated that 180 genes associated with HCC were regarded as the potential therapeutic targets of Ep, mainly involved in metabolic pathways, cancer pathways, proteoglycans in cancer and PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which might be a crucial pathway in HCC EMT. A herb-component-target-pathway network was constructed to reveal the interactions between Ep and HCC. Finally, predicted PI3K/Akt pathway was further validated by molecular docking and western blot experiment. This study showed that Ep ameliorates HCC-induced tumor cell survival and migration in mice via the regulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. Thus, Ep might be a potential new strategy to prevent the growth and metastasis of HCC.
紫锥菊（Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench，Ep）作为一种膳食补充剂被广泛使用，具有多种药理活性，包括免疫调节、抗炎、抗肿瘤作用。然而，Ep对肝细胞癌（HCC）生长和转移的抑制作用尚不清楚。在此，通过系统药理学和分子对接阐明了Ep对HCC的预防作用及其潜在机制。结果表明，Ep在体内和体外均可显著改善HCC诱导的肿瘤生长和迁移。系统药理学结果表明，180个与HCC相关的基因被视为Ep的潜在治疗靶点，主要涉及代谢途径、癌症途径、癌症中的蛋白聚糖和PI3K/Akt信号通路，这可能是HCC上皮-间质转化（EMT）中的关键途径。构建了草药-成分-靶点-途径网络以揭示Ep与HCC之间的相互作用。最后，通过分子对接和蛋白质印迹实验进一步验证了预测的PI3K/Akt途径。本研究表明，Ep通过调节PI3K/Akt途径改善HCC诱导的小鼠肿瘤细胞存活和迁移。因此，Ep可能是预防HCC生长和转移的一种潜在新策略。
