Data Mining and System Pharmacology to Elucidate the Efficiency and Mechanism of Chinese Medicine in Treating Primary Liver Cancer

Abstract BACKGROUNDPiling studies have demonstrated that Chinese medicine (CM) is effective in treating PLC. However, underlying mechanism of CM in treating PLC remains confused. MATERIAL AND METHODThe information of 524 patients with PLC were collected and separated to CM group and Less-CM group based on the time of taking CM. Then, the prescriptions in CM group were collected to identify the corn drugs. System Pharmacology was employed to explore the mechanism of corn drugs in treating PLC.RESULTSIn univariate and multivariate analysis, taking Chinese medicines more than 6 months was an independent prognostic factor. Then, Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System was employed to find out the core drugs that really benefit for PLC patients. Totally, 153 ingredients from 9 core drugs (HXCF) were screened out. Fifty-five genes were identified for HXCF against PLC. The pathways were found as the mechanism of HXCF to treat PLC. Docking studies suggested amount of ingredients in HXCF exerts therapeutic effects against PLC, at least in part, by modulating the function of c-JUN and IL-6.CONCLUSIONOur results verified the effectiveness of CM in treating PLC and mined the corn drugs. What’s more, our result also predicted active components and potential targets of HXCF for the application to PLC from a holistic perspective, as well as provided valuable direction for further research of HXCF and improved comprehension of PLC.