Network pharmacology and bioinformatics-based study on the mechanism and experimental validation of the inhibitory effect of Gan Song Drink on mechanism of action and experimental validation study of renal clear cell carcinoma

Abstract Background Gan Song Drink (GSY) is originated from the scripture "Gan Song Pills", a medical work of the Ningxia ethnic minorities, and its treatment of kidney diseases has good results. Its method of treating kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is still unknown, nevertheless. Methods Screening of GSY for active ingredients and targets using a network pharmacology approach and searching for KIRC-related targets via Genecards and GEO databases.Further construction of the protein interaction network and GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were carried out. After that, molecular docking was carried out. Then, the clinical correlation analysis of the results of network pharmacology was carried out by using the method of biological information analysis. Finally, we used 786-O and ACHN cells for CCK8, apoptosis, cell cycle, plate clone formation, qRT-PCR and Western blotting in vitro cell experiments to verify the results of network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis. Results With the help of network pharmacological analysis, six Hub targets were eliminated. Bioinformatics study revealed that the Hub target has clinically significant clinical guiding importance. The experimental findings demonstrated that GSY decreased the ability of 786-O and ACHN cells to produce clones, hindered the proliferation of these cells, induced apoptosis, halted the cell cycle, increased the expression of the ALB and CASP3 genes, and decreased the expression of the EGFR, JUN, MYC, and VEGFA genes.Protein expression of ALB and CASP3 increased, and protein expression of EGFR, JUN, MYC, and VEGFA showed a decreasing trend. Conclusions Network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis showed that GSY could act on multiple targets through a variety of components to achieve the effect of treating KIRC. In this study, we confirmed that GSY inhibits KIRC by regulating the expression of core targets through in vitro cellular experiments, thus providing a reference for subsequent related studies.