Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To investigate the active components and mechanism of Hedyotis diffusa Willd.(HDW) against gastric cancer by metabolomics and network pharmacology.
METHODS The TCMSP database and published documents were used to obtain the chemical components of HDW, while SwissTarget Prediction database was used to obtain the target genes of HDW and target genes of gastric cancer were obtained using GeneCards database. Then, the common targets network of HDW and gastric cancer was visualized by Cytoscape, and the protein-protein interaction(PPI) network of common targets was constructed via STRING database. Gene ontology(GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment were analyzed in the DAVID database to screen the active components and corresponding targets of HDW against gastric cancer. Meanwhile, the in vitro experiments were conducted using AGS human gastric adenocarcinoma cells to test the inhibitory effects of HDW on the proliferation, migration and invasion of AGS cells, and to determine the half effective concentration(IC50) of HDW against gastric cancer. In addition, metabolomics analysis of cellular metabolites was performed using NMR technology to explore the mechanism of HDW.
RESULTS HDW significantly suppressed the wound healing rate and invasive capacity of AGS cells, with an IC50 of 4.495 mg·mL−1 against AGS cells. The 15 potential biomarkers were screened that associated with the inhibition effect of HDW and involved in 6 metabolic pathways related to energy metabolism. In addition, the results of network pharmacology showed that there were 175 common targets between HDW and gastric cancer, and 5 core targets were recognized combining the result of PPI interaction network.
CONCLUSION Trans-caffeic acid, trans-ferulic acid, kaempferol, isomaltulose, quercetin and coumalic acid may be the potential active components of HDW against gastric cancer, acting through the core targets including TNF, EGFR, STAT3, MMP9 and PTGS2, and regulating pathways such as energy metabolism, reactive oxygen species production and inflammation response.