Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 1;12(1):18413.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18319-0.

Exploring the mechanism of andrographolide in the treatment of gastric cancer through network pharmacology and molecular docking

Affiliations

Exploring the mechanism of andrographolide in the treatment of gastric cancer through network pharmacology and molecular docking

Ravi Prakash Yadav et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Gastric cancer has emerged as a key challenge in oncology research as a malignant tumour with advanced stage detection. Apart from surgical management, a pharmacotherapeutic approach to stomach cancer treatment is an appealing option to consider. Andrographolide has been shown to have anticancer and chemosensitizer properties in a variety of solid tumors, including stomach cancer but the exact molecular mechanism is skeptical. In this study, we identified and validated pharmacological mechanism involved in the treatment of GC with integrated approach of network pharmacology and molecular docking. The targets of andrographolide and GC were obtained from databases. The intersected targets between andrographolide and GC-related genes were used to construct protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Furthermore, mechanism of action of the targets was predicted by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. Finally, these results were validated by molecular docking experiments, mRNA and protein expression level. A total of 197 targets were obtained for andrographolide treating GC. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the target genes were exerted promising therapeutic effects on GC by HIF-1 and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. The possible mechanism of action is by inactivation of HIF-1 signaling pathway which is dependent on the inhibition of upstream PI3K-AKT pathway. The PPI network identified SRC, AKT1, TP53, STAT3, PIK3CA, MAPK1, MAPK3, VEGFA, JUN and HSP90AA1 as potential hub targets. In addition, these results were further validated with molecular docking experiments. Survival analysis indicated that the expression levels of the hub genes were significantly associated with the clinical prognosis of GC. This study provided a novel approach to reveal the therapeutic mechanisms of andrographolide on GC, making future clinical application of andrographolide in the treatment of GC.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General workflow of network pharmacology and molecular docking in the present study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Common-target network. (a) Venn diagram of the intersection relationship of target genes between Andrographolide and GC. (b) Compound-Target Network generated using Cytoscape (https://cytoscape.org/; ver. 3.8.2).
Figure 3
Figure 3
GO enrichment analysis for the targets in andrographolide treating gastric cancer (P value < 0.05) (http://www.bioinformatics.com.cn/).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The top 20 potential KEGG pathway enrichment of screened target genes in GC (http://www.bioinformatics.com.cn/).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and Hub gene analysis. (a) PPI network performed by STRING database. Contains 197 common DEGs. (http://string-db.org/; version 11.5). (b) PPI network of the top 10 hub genes generated by (Cytoscape plugin cytoHubba; https://apps.cytoscape.org/apps/cytohubba; version 0.1) (the redder the colour, the more important it is).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Molecular docking results of hub targets with andrographolide. (https://discover.3ds.com/discovery-studio-visualizer-download).
Figure 7
Figure 7
The mRNA expression levels of hub genes in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype–Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. (a) Boxplot of hub gene mRNA expression levels in the GEPIA database. Red represents GC tissue, and grey represents normal gastric tissue. (b) Stage plot of hub genes mRNA expression level and pathological stage in the GEPIA database.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Immunohistochemical images of hub gene protein expression levels in the HPA database.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Kaplan–Meier overall survival analyses of patients with gastric cancer based on expression of the ten hub genes. HR, hazard ratio (http://kmplot.com/analysis/index.php?p=service).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sung H, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2021;71:209–249. doi: 10.3322/caac.21660. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Verma HK, Ratre YK, Mazzone P, Laurino S, Bhaskar LVKS. Micro RNA facilitated chemoresistance in gastric cancer: A novel biomarkers and potential therapeutics. Alexandria J. Med. 2020;56:81–92. doi: 10.1080/20905068.2020.1779992. - DOI
    1. Gao JP, Xu W, Liu WT, Yan M, Zhu ZG. Tumor heterogeneity of gastric cancer: From the perspective of tumor-initiating cell. World J. Gastroenterol. 2018;24:2567. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i24.2567. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang L, et al. Systematic elucidation of the mechanism of quercetin against gastric cancer via network pharmacology approach. BioMed Res. Int. 2020;2020:5. doi: 10.1155/2020/3860213. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kang SY, et al. Potential of bioactive food components against gastric cancer: Insights into molecular mechanism and therapeutic targets. Cancers. 2021;13:4502. doi: 10.3390/cancers13184502. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances