Network pharmacology based study on mechanism of peony leaf in the treatment of cervical cancer

Abstract

Objective To analyze the multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway mechanism of peony leaf in the treatment of cervical cancer based on network pharmacology. Methods The possible active components and targets in peony leaf were screened and predicted by pharmacological database and analysis platform of traditional Chinese medicine system, and the related targets of cervical cancer diseases were obtained by searching Therapeutic Target Database and others. The potential targets for the disease regulation were screened according to the active components of peony leaves entering blood, then the key target names and the pathways involved in the treatment of peony leaf were selected according to the network topological characteristic parameters. Then, the enrichment analysis was carried out by using ClueGO software plug-in. Results There were 194 target sites for 11 blood entry components in peony leaves. Finally, 171 signal pathways were obtained, and 21 key pathways related to cervical cancer were obtained after the wide pathway was excluded, such as estrogen signaling pathway, neurotrophin signaling pathway and so on. Conclusion Peony leaves may play a vital role in the treatment of cervical cancer by acting on inflammatory, metabolic, immunological, endocrine and cell cycle related protein targets and pathways. Key words: Uterine cervical neoplasms; Signal transduction; Network pharmacology; Peony leaf