Integrative analysis of the molecular signature of target genes involved in the antitumor effects of cantharidin on hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Cantharidin (CTD) is the active ingredient of Chinese medicine, which has been traditionally used in multiple cancers treatment, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, a comprehensive analysis of the CTD-related molecular mechanism is still necessary to understand its functions in HCC treatment. This study aimed to reveal the novel molecular targets and regulatory networks of CTD in HCC. Methods A model of H22 tumour-bearing mice was constructed, and the function of CTD in tumour growth was evaluated. An integrated approach of CTD associated transcriptional profiling and biological systems analysis was used to identify key regulators involved in antitumour pathways. The identified differential expression patterns were supported by the results of Gene Ontology (GO) term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyse, and by protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction. The relationships between gene expression and tumour immunity were evaluated using Tumour Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). Prognostic value was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier plotter. Results In the present study, the therapeutic effect of CTD on HCC was evaluated in vivo. We obtained the CTD-related transcriptional profiles, systematically and intuitively illustrated its possible pharmacological mechanisms in HCC through multiple targets and signalling pathways. These results revealed that the CTD-related differentially expressed genes were involved in autophagy, transcription factors (TFs) related transcriptional regulation, fatty acid metabolism and immune response in HCC. We found that MAPT , TOP2A, CENPF and MEFV were hub genes of CTD targets involved in autophagy regulation. Totally, 14 TFs have been confirmed to be critical for transcriptional regulation, and 33 TF targets were identified as the hub genes in transcriptional mis-regulation pathway in cancer. These TFs were associated with the immune response and immune cell infiltration. In addition, the downregulated genes were significantly enriched in metabolic regulation pathways, especially fatty acid metabolism after CTD treatment. Furthermore, the network of CTD associated miRNAs with these fatty acid metabolism-related targets was constructed in HCC. Conclusions Taken together, our results comprehensively elucidated that CTD could act on multiple targets in HCC therapy, affecting autophagy, transcriptional regulation, the immune response and fatty acid metabolism. Our results provide a foundation for the study of the molecular mechanistic of CTD and its clinical application in the treatment of HCC.