ABSTRACT
Objective:To reveal the effective components， targets and possible mechanisms of Qinggan Huayu granules in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease （NAFLD） and liver cancer based on network pharmacology and experimental verification， and to provide a basis for its rational interpretation of treating different diseases with same method for NAFLD and liver cancer. Method:Based on databases of traditional Chinese medicine and disease， the network pharmacology was used to screen main active compounds and potential targets of Qinggan Huayu granules for NAFLD and liver cancer. STRING 11.0 was used to analyze the interaction between potential targets. The core targets were selected from the interaction targets by cytoHubba plug-in. The gene ontology （GO） function and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the target by Metascape database. At the same time， <italic>in vitro</italic> experiments were conducted to validate the effect of kaempferol， one of the main active ingredients of Qinggan Huayu granules， on hepatocellular carcinoma cell model and NAFLD cell model. Result:A total of 43 potential targets of Qinggan Huayu granules for for NAFLD and liver cancer were screened， corresponding to 136 active ingredients in 8 herbal medicines. Through enrichment analysis of potential targets， there were 20 biological processes， 13 molecular functions， 9 cellular components and 15 signaling pathways. Qinggan Huayu granules regulated biological behaviors of tumors related to liver cancer and NAFLD （such as apoptosis inhibition and oxidative stress） mainly through kaempferol， quercetin， luteolin and other active ingredients for Caspase-3 （CASP3）， tumor protein p53 （TP53）， vascular endothelial growth factor A （VEGFA） and other hub genes. <italic>In vitro</italic> experiments revealed that kaempferol could inhibit cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner in hepatocellular carcinoma cell model. And kaempferol could modulate the levels of malondialdehyde （MDA） and glutathione peroxidase （GPx）， which were the molecular markers of oxidative stress of NAFLD cell model. Kaempfero also regulated the expression level of CASP3 in hepatocellular carcinoma cell model and NAFLD cell model. Conclusion:The main mechanism of Qinggan Huayu granules in treating liver cancer and NAFLD with concept of treating different diseases with same method is related to systematic synergy effect of multiple compounds （represented by quercetin， luteolin and kaempferol）， multiple targets （represented by VEGFA， TP53 and CASP3） and multiple signaling pathways （represented by oxidative stress and cell apoptosis）.