Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110000, China.
Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, Liaoning 110000, China.
Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2022 Sep 19;2022:2663758. doi: 10.1155/2022/2663758. eCollection 2022.
Matrine and glycyrrhizin are representative active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) used in clinical practice. Studies have demonstrated that matrine has antitumor pharmacological effects and that glycyrrhizin protects liver function. However, the potential bioactive compounds and mechanisms remain unknown, as well as whether they have synergistic effects in killing cancer cells and protecting liver cells. To investigate the synergistic effects and mechanism of matrine combined with glycyrrhizin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment, we used both network pharmacology and bioinformatics analyses. First, the chemical gene interaction information of matrine and glycyrrhizin was obtained from the PubChem database. The pathogenic genes of HCC were accessed from five public databases. The RNA sequencing data and clinical information of HCC patients were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Next, the overlapping genes among the potential targets of matrine and glycyrrhizin and HCC-related targets were determined using bioinformatics analysis. We constructed the drug-target interaction network. Prognosis-associated genes were acquired through the univariate Cox regression model and Lasso-Cox regression model. The results were verified by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. Finally, we predicted the immune function of the samples. The drug-target interaction network consisted of 10 matrine and glycyrrhizin targets. We selected a Lasso-Cox regression model consisting of 3 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to predict the efficacy of the combination in HCC. Subsequently, we successfully predicted the overall survival of HCC patients using the constructed prognostic model and investigated the correlation of the immune response. Matrine and glycyrrhizin have synergistic effects on HCC. The model we obtained consisted of three drug-target genes by Lasso-Cox regression analysis. The model independently predicted the combined effect of matrine and glycyrrhizin in HCC treatment and OS, which will be helpful for guiding clinical treatment. The prognostic model was correlated with the immune cells and immune checkpoints of patients, which had an adjuvant effect on HCC immunotherapy. Matrine and glycyrrhizin can have therapeutic effects on HCC by promoting the production or enhancing the core gene activity in the drug network and improving the immune system function of patients.
苦参碱和甘草酸是临床应用中中药的代表性活性成分。研究表明,苦参碱具有抗肿瘤药理作用,甘草酸具有保护肝功能的作用。然而,其潜在的生物活性化合物和机制尚不清楚,也不清楚它们在杀死癌细胞和保护肝细胞方面是否具有协同作用。为了研究苦参碱和甘草酸联合治疗肝细胞癌(HCC)的协同作用和机制,我们同时使用网络药理学和生物信息学分析。首先,从 PubChem 数据库中获取苦参碱和甘草酸的化学基因相互作用信息。从五个公共数据库中获取 HCC 的致病基因。从癌症基因组图谱(TCGA)下载 HCC 患者的 RNA 测序数据和临床信息。接下来,使用生物信息学分析确定苦参碱和甘草酸的潜在靶点与 HCC 相关靶点之间的重叠基因。我们构建了药物-靶点相互作用网络。通过单变量 Cox 回归模型和 Lasso-Cox 回归模型获得预后相关基因。通过国际癌症基因组联合会(ICGC)数据库进行验证。最后,我们预测了样本的免疫功能。药物-靶点相互作用网络包含 10 个苦参碱和甘草酸靶点。我们选择了一个包含 3 个差异表达基因(DEGs)的 Lasso-Cox 回归模型来预测苦参碱和甘草酸联合治疗 HCC 的疗效。随后,我们成功地使用构建的预后模型预测了 HCC 患者的总生存率,并研究了免疫反应的相关性。苦参碱和甘草酸对 HCC 具有协同作用。通过 Lasso-Cox 回归分析,我们得到的模型由三个药物-靶点基因组成。该模型独立预测了苦参碱和甘草酸联合治疗 HCC 及 OS 的联合效应,有助于指导临床治疗。预后模型与患者的免疫细胞和免疫检查点相关,对 HCC 免疫治疗具有辅助作用。苦参碱和甘草酸可以通过促进药物网络中产生或增强核心基因的活性以及改善患者的免疫系统功能,对 HCC 产生治疗作用。