Molecular targets and mechanisms of cortex mori for lung cancer treatment: A network pharmacology study, molecular docking and experimental validation

Abstract Purpose The traditional Chinese medicine cortex mori was commonly used to treat pneumonia in clinical settings. The development of cancer is closely related to inflammation. So, it was the objective of this study to determine the molecular targets of cortex mori in the treatment of lung cancer and explore its action and mechanism through network pharmacological analysis combined with biological experiments in vitro. Methods GeneCards database was searched for the disease targets of lung cancer and Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP), was used to screen cortex mori for its active components and targets. Protein-protein interactions (PPI) and gene ontologies (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were analyzed for intersection genes. In order to determine whether cortex mori affects lung cancer, MTS, wound healing, and apoptosis assays were performed. Results 32 active ingredients and 434 targets of Chinese medicine cortex mori were obtained. Totally 2,3107 lung cancer related targets were collected. The results of network pharmacological analysis showed that cortex mori acted on 163 disease targets of lung cancer mainly by cyclomolorusin, ,etc. The core genes involving cortex mori treating lung cancer might consist of JUN, etc. The core targets involved 162 biological processes, including nuclear receptor activity, etc. The core study targeted 160 pathways, including fluid stress, etc. Biologic cytological experiments showed that cyclomolorusin inhibited occurrence and development of lung cancer through AKT-PI3K pathway. Conclusions Cortex mori acts on AKT and other related disease targets of lung cancer cells through cyclomolorusin, and plays a role in the treatment of lung cancer by inhibiting the signaling pathway associated with lung cancer occurrence and development.