Study on the Mechanism of Ginseng in the Treatment of Lung Adenocarcinoma Based on Network Pharmacology

Abstract

Background. Ginseng, a traditional Chinese medicine, was used to prevent and treat many diseases such as diabetes, inflammation, and cancer. In recent years, there are some reports about the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma with ginseng monomer compounds, but there is no systematic study on the related core targets and mechanism of ginseng in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma up to now. Therefore, this study systematically and comprehensively studied the molecular mechanism of ginseng in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma based on network pharmacology and further proved the potential targets by A549 cell experiments for the first time. Methods. The targets of disease and drug were obtained from Gene database. Subsequently, the compound-target network was constructed, and the core potential targets were screened out by plug-in into Cytoscape. Furthermore, the core targets and mechanism of ginseng in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma were verified by MTT test, cell scratch test, immunohistochemistry, and qRT-PCR. Results. 1791 disease targets and 144 drug targets were obtained by searching the Gene database. Meanwhile, 15 core targets were screened out: JUN, MAPK8, PTGS2, CASP3, VEGFA, MMP9, AKT1, TNF, FN1, FOS, MMP782, IL-1β, IL-2, ICAM1, and HMOX1. The results of cell experiments indicate that ginseng could treat lung adenocarcinoma by cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. In addition, according to the results of the 15 core targets by qRT-PCR, JUN, IL-1β, IL-2, ICAM1, HMOX1, MMP9, and MMP2 are upregulated core targets, while PTGS2 and TNF are downregulated core targets. Conclusion. This study systematically and comprehensively studied 15 core targets by network pharmacology for the first time. Subsequently, it is verified that 9 core targets for ginseng treatment of lung adenocarcinoma, namely, JUN, IL-1β, IL-2, ICAM1, HMOX1, MMP9, MMP2, PTGS2, and TNF, are closely related to the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells. This study has reference value for the clinical application of ginseng in the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.

Network Pharmacology of Ginseng (Part II): The Differential Effects of Red Ginseng and Ginsenoside Rg5 in Cancer and Heart Diseases as Determined by Transcriptomics

“…These conclusions are in line with other reports on the antitumor activity of ginseng and purified ginsenosides [ 19 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 36 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Pharmacological effects of ginseng preparations at various levels of regulation of homeostasis have been studied [ 26 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]; however, network pharmacology studies [ 26 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] at the transcriptomic level of regulation of cellular homeostasis are limited [ 38 ].…”

Network Pharmacology of Ginseng (Part II): The Differential Effects of Red Ginseng and Ginsenoside Rg5 in Cancer and Heart Diseases as Determined by Transcriptomics

“…These conclusions are in line with other reports on the antitumor activity of Ginseng and purified ginsenosides [19,23,25,26,36,[39][40][41][42][43][44].…”

“…Pharmacological effects of ginseng preparations at various levels of regulation of homeostasis have been studied [26,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]; however, network pharmacology studies [26,[33][34][35][36][37][38] at the transcriptomic level of regulation of cellular homeostasis are limited [38].…”

Regulatory Mechanism and Experimental Verification of Patchouli Alcohol on Gastric Cancer Cell Based on Network Pharmacology

“…attention for possible use in the treatment of many diseases, including cancer. Studies have increasingly shown that some TCM remedies, including Chinese herbal medicine extracts, single TCM, and TCM formulations, may have anticancer effects (14)(15)(16). TCM has the features of multi-target, multipathway, and multi-action mechanisms, and its mechanism is difficult to clarify.…”