PJB-2018-974
Network Pharmacology Approach for Uncovering the Multiple Mechanisms of Cynomorium songaricum against New Diseases: A Case Study on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
xiang zhang
Abstract
Abstract Cynomorium songaricum is an herbal medicine traditionally used for enhancing kidney function or stimulating immunologic function. However, the new pharmacologic activity of C. songaricum and the exploration of its multiple mechanisms is not well understood. Herein, we reported the chemical compositions of C. songaricum methanol extract by UHPLC-Q-Exactive and literature collection and then performed molecular docking experiments with targets from the RCSB, STITCH and Uniport databases and literature. We adopted a network pharmacology-based strategy and selected ingredients and targets showing better scores than those of the positive drugs for six diseases (oral squamous cell carcinoma [OSCC], HIV, AD, gastric cancer, melanoma and gastric ulcer). Then, Gene Ontology and pathway analyses on OSCC were conducted. A total of 77 compounds were identified from the methanol extract and papers on C. songaricum. Molecular docking indicated that 34 compounds, among which are flavonoids and glycosides, were docked with 18 targets and showed better scores than those of the positive drugs, such as luteolin and ursolic acid together with 3OD4 and 4ACC, which are mainly related to OSCC. The top two biological processes were phosphorylation and protein phosphorylation, and the representative pathways were the PI3K-Akt, cGMP-PKG and Wnt signalling pathways for OSCC. In conclusion, this research partially explored the potential C. songaricum pharmacologic activities, which showed multi-component, multi-target, multi-pathway and multi-disease mechanisms. This work can lay a foundation for further experimental research on the effectivity of C. songaricum in OSCC and guidance for the novel study of other herbal medicines. Keywords: Cynomorium songaricum; Molecular docking; Network pharmacology; UHPLC-Q-Exactive; Anti-oral squamous cell carcinoma
To Cite this article:
Download
