ABSTRACT
Aim To explore the molecular mechanism of Selaginella moelledorffii Hieron. in the treatment of laryngeal cancer. Methods According to the relevant literature reports, the chemical constituents of S. moellendorffii were obtained, and the active ingredients were screened out through the SwissADME database, and the targets were screened through the PharmMapper database. The laryngeal cancer-related targets were collected by searching OMIM and other databases, and the Venny 2.1.0 online platform was used to obtain the intersection of the two. Protein interaction analysis of the potential targets was performed using the STRNG platform. GO functional analysis and KEGG pathway analysis was carried out using DAVID database. Visual networks were built with Cytoscape 3.8.0 software. Molecular docking was validated by SYBYL-X 2. 0 software. MTT method, Hoechst 33258 staining method and Western blotting were also used for validation. Results At the molecular level, a total of 110 active ingredients of S. moellendorffii and 82 drug targets were screened out, 1,608 targets related to laryngeal cancer, and intersection of 34 targets. GO analysis yielded 135 entries, and KEGG analysis yielded a total of 61 pathways. Molecular docking results showed that the 11 key active ingredients such as 2", 3"-dihydrooch-naflavone wood flavonoids and 4 core target proteins such as MAPK1 had 95. 5% of good docking activity. At the cellular level, SM-BFRE was screened for its strongest inhibitory effect on laryngeal cancer cell proliferation through MTT assay. Furthermore, Hoechst 33258 staining showed that the decrease in Hep-2 cell viability produced by SM-BFRE was related to cell apoptosis. Finally, Western blot verified that SM-BFRE inhibited PI3K/Akt/NF through inhibition- K B/COX-2 pathway to induce apoptosis in laryngeal cancer cells. Conclusions To sum up, it fully reflects the multicomponent, multi-target, and multi-channel synergistic effect of S. moellendorffii in the treatment of laryngeal cancer, and provides a theoretical reference for further elucidation of the mechanism of action of S. moellendorffii in the treatment of laryngeal cancer.