Front. Oncol.

Sec. Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics

Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1475000

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

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In recent years, some components and active ingredients from the herbal formula "eight famous herbals in Zhejiang" (Zhe-Ba-Wei) have been reported to possess anti-tumor properties. However, it still no systemic study on the role and mechanism of Zhe-Ba-Wei in cancer. To systematically investigated the anticancer efficacy of Zhe-Ba-Wei, we first identified 16 reported active ingredients with gene targets associated with various types of tumors. Second, we screened these active ingredients and responding multiple shared targets by analyzing the convergence of diverse and tumor-specific target sites, and identified four crucial active ingredients (ferulic acid, quercetin, rutin, luteolin) which were characterized by 27 overlapping gene targets.Third, these 27 gene targets were subsequently mapped onto the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and Gene Ontology term and showed that 12 among total 27 potential targets were involved in plasma membrane function.Fourthly, we investigated the binding affinities between four crucial active ingredients and their potential targets such as EGFR and MET, both of which were well known as oncogene in various cancers. Subsequently, computational ADMET properties investigation showed that most of these four ingredients exhibited good ADMET properties. Finally, we found that three active ingredients (ferulic acid, luteolin, quercetin) could inhibit the proliferation of NSCLC cells, and decrease the protein expression of EGFR in a manner of concentration-dependent. All these results show light on the bioactive components, pharmacological effects, and drug development and utilization of Zhe-Ba-Wei, hoping to provide useful support for its further research and clinical application.

Keywords: Zhe-Ba-Wei, Cancer, Active ingredients, target, Network Pharmacology

Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

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