• Yiting Zhang, Linjing Xu, and Ling Li.
• Department of Gynecology, Zhaoqing First People's Hospital, Zhaoqing, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Sep 8; 102 (36): e35135e35135.

BackgroundTo investigate the molecular targets and mechanisms of compound kushen injection (CKI) in the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer based on network pharmacology and transcriptomics.MethodsIn this study, we used network pharmacology methods to screen for effective compounds, integrated the results of network pharmacology and RNA-seq to comprehensively screen and predict target genes, analyze the biological functions and signaling pathways of target genes, and construct a PPI network to screen for hub genes. The results were further verified by biological experiments, molecular docking, RT-PCR, and western blot analysis.ResultsThe results showed that the hub genes CXCL2, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor, hexokinase 2 are therapeutic targets of CKI for the treatment of Cervical Cancer. These targets were significantly enriched in pathways mainly including pathways in cancer, cell cycle, MAPK signaling pathways, etc. In vitro cell experiments showed that CKI could effectively inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, promote apoptosis, and induce cell cycle arrest. RT-PCR and western blot experiments showed that the expression of hub genes was significantly decreased. The compounds have good binding activity to hub genes.ConclusionCKI, based on its active ingredients and through multiple targets and multiple pathways, can stop the growth of cervical cancer cells at a certain phase of the cell cycle and cause apoptosis, which proved CKI's effect in treating cervical cancer.Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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