An Investigation of the Effect of the Traditional Naxi Herbal Formula Against Liver Cancer through Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking and In Vitro Experiments

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202408.1279.v1
• Publication Date: 2024-08-22T00:30:12Z
• Authors: Xiuxiang Yan; Angkhana Inta; Xuefei Yang; Hataichanok Pandith; Terd Disayathanoowat; Lixin Yang
• Keywords: RS1-441; underlying mechanism; Pharmacy and materia medica; traditional Naxi herbal formula; in vitro experiments; R; network pharmacology; Medicine; molecular docking; the formula Chong-Lou-Yao-Fang (CLYF); Article

The formula Chong-Lou-Yao-Fang (CLYF) is an herbal medicinal formulation developed by the indigenous Naxi people for treating liver cancer. This study is to reveal the biological activity, potential targets, and molecular mechanisms of CLYF for cancer treatment through network pharmacology, molecular docking and in vitro experiments. 35 key compounds were screened from 176 active ingredients in CLYF, which played a vital role in the treatment of cancer, 20 core targets were filtered through protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. The enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) indicated that PI3K-Akt, MAPK, hepatitis B, hepatitis C might be effective in liver cancer treatment. Mo-lecular docking revealed stable binding between EGFR, TP53, and AKT1 with active ingredients. Experiments with cell cultures confirmed that CLYF-A suppressed the proliferation of HepG2 cells, which is consistent with the network pharmacology approach undertaken and the predictions of molecular docking. CLYF-A also induced significant apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in HepG2 cells, which was associated with the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. This study explored the biological activity, potential targets, and molecular mechanisms of CLYF for cancer treatment. Our results may provide a scientific basis for the clinical use of CLYF for cancer treatment and have important implications for developing pharmaceutical preparations, which also need more phar-macological experiments.