ABSTRACT
Objective:To elucidate the potential molecular markers and drug-compound-target mechanism of Epimedii Folium intervention on breast cancer stem cells（BCSCs） through chip analysis combined with network pharmacology and experimental validation. Method:Relevant drug information was retrieved in Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform （TCMSP） to obtain the active components and potential targets of Epimedii Folium. "Breast Cancer Stem Cells" were searched in Gene Expression Omnibus（GEO）database，and GSE98239 chip data were obtained through analysis and screening. Then GEO2R online analysis tool was used to obtain the differential genes to draw differential gene heat map and volcano map. The differential gene network map of Epimedii Folium intervention for breast cancer stem cells was constructed by Cytoscape 3.8.0，and Gene Ontology（GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG）enrichment analysis of drug and disease genes were performed. Human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells were divided into 20%，40%，60% Epimedii Folium drug-containing serum group and control group. Cell counting kit-8（CCK-8），and Western blot were used to detect the effect of Epimedii Folium drug-containing serum intervention on cell activity and target protein expression in breast cancer cells. Result:Twenty-three active components including flavones，sterols，alkaloids and sesquiterpenoids were obtained from Epimedii Folium. It was found that Epimedii Folium interacted with B-cell lymphoma-2-like protein 1（BCL2L1），matrix metallopeptidase 2（MMP2），prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2（PTGS2），vascular endothelial growth factor A（VEGFA），transforming growth factor beta receptor 1（TGFBR1） and other pivotal genes in breast cancer stem cells，participated in the induction of new angiogenesis and cell migration，enabled the continuous self-renewal of BCSCs，decreased apoptosis and cell migration，thus promoting the recurrence and metastasis of breast cancer. KEGG results showed that Epimedii Folium intervened in multiple differential expressed genes（DEGs）of transforming growth factor-<italic>β</italic>（TGF-<italic>β</italic>），vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF），phosphoinositide 3kinase/protein kenase B（PI3K/Akt），mitogen-activated protein kinese（MAPK）and mammalian target of rapamycin（mTOR）subpathways in cancer signaling pathways to exert its efficacy in intervening breast cancer stem cells. Experiments showed that the survival rate of breast cancer cells was significantly reduced and the expression levels of TGFBR1 and Smad2 in breast cancer cells significantly decreased after the intervention of Epimedii Folium drug-containing serum（<italic>P</italic><0.01）. Conclusion:Several components in different concentrations of drug-containing serum of Epimedii Folium can synergistically act on target differentially expressed genes of breast cancer stem cells，and inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells by down-regulating the expression levels of TGFBR1，a key molecule in the TGF-<italic>β</italic> pathway，and Smad2，a downstream signal.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the mechanism of Farfarae Flos (FF) in Qingfei Paidu Decoction against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Methods: Based on our previous study, the main compounds in FF were selected. The potential targets of FF were searched by Swiss Target Prediction and BATMAN-TCM database. GenCLiP 3 and GeneCard were used to predict and screen the therapeutic targets of COVID-19, and then Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to build the compound-target-disease network. The String database was used to build the target PPI network. Gene ontology (GO) function enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed in the DAVID database. Molecular docking was performed based on the above compounds and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 3CL hydrolase and angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2). Results: The compound-target-disease network contained 14 compounds, 104 targets and four diseases. GO function enrichment analysis revealed 444 GO items (P < 0.05), including 325 biological process (BP) items, 44 cell composition (CC) items and 75 molecular function (MF) items. A total of 94 signal pathways (P < 0.05) were screened out by KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. The results of molecular docking showed that the affinity of 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid with proteins were better than Remdesivir. Conclusion: The compounds in FF can bind with SARS-CoV-2 3CL hydrolase and ACE2, and then act on many targets to regulate multiple signaling pathways, thus exerting the therapeutic effect on COVID-19.