Abstract
Objective Chinese herbs play a positive role in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China. However, it is not clear which of Chinese herbs are critical for the treatment of HCC. Besides, mechanisms of CCHs in the treatment of HCC remain unclear. Hence, our goal is to identify the core Chinese herbs (CCHs) for treating HCC and explore their antitumor mechanism. Methods Firstly, clinical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions for HCC were collected from Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, and then, data mining software was used to identify CCHs. After that, bioactive compounds and corresponding target genes of CCHs were obtained using three TCM databases, and target genes of HCC were acquired from MalaCards and OMIM. Subsequently, common target genes of CCHs and HCC were screened. Moreover, biological functions and pathways were analyzed, and Cytoscape plugin cytoHubba was used to identify hub genes. Finally, prognostic values of hub genes were verified by survival analysis, and the molecular docking approach was utilized to validate the interactions between targets and bioactive compounds of CCHs. Results Eight CCHs were determined from 630 prescriptions, and 100 bioactive compounds (e.g., quercetin and luteolin) and 126 common target genes were screened. Furthermore, common target genes of CCHs and HCC were mainly enriched in cancer-associated pathways, and six hub genes with statistical significance in survival analysis were selected as key target genes for molecular docking. Additionally, molecular docking showed that the bioactive compounds docked well with the protein receptors of key target genes. Conclusion By combining data mining, network pharmacology, molecular docking, and survival analysis methods, we found that CCHs may play a therapeutic role in HCC through regulating the target genes and pathways related to cancer occurrence and development, angiogenesis, metastasis, and prognosis.
Highlights
As one of the most common cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates
Clinical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions intended solely for HCC were collected from studies in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. e search was conducted using the following search terms: “(Chinese medicine OR prescription OR decoction) AND AND clinical”. e inclusion criteria for the studies included the following: (1) the first diagnosis of cancer patients being HCC; (2) clinical research on oral TCM prescriptions or oral TCM prescriptions combined with Western medicine in the treatment of HCC; (3) experience of TCM experts
According to the criteria described above, 630 TCM prescriptions for the treatment of HCC were obtained from 527 studies
Summary
As one of the most common cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates. HCC is predicted to be the sixth most frequent cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer death worldwide in 2018 [1]. Advancedstage HCC has a 5-year survival rate of only 5–15% [2]. E chief etiologies for HCC include chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic liver disease, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [3]. The therapeutic options for patients with HCC are poor and mainly include surgery, liver transplantation, chemoembolization, and molecularly targeted therapy [4, 5]. TCM is effective in improving symptoms, reducing side effects of chemotherapy, suppressing cancer
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