Utilizing Bioinformatics Technology to Explore the Potential Mechanism of Danggui Buxue Decoction Against NSCLC

Abstract Background: While lung cancer poses a serious threat to human health, non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. Danggui Buxue Decoction (DBD) is a classic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) commonly prescribed for anti-tumor use in China. However, the potential mechanism of DBD against NSCLC has not yet been expounded. Hence, this study clarified its potential mechanism through bioinformatics technology.Methods: First, the active ingredients of DBD and the relevant targets were searched and screened by using the TCMSP database. Then the targets of NSCLC were obtained through searching GeneCards and OMIM database. Venny diagram was drawn to find the core targets, and an ingredient-disease-target network diagram was made by Cytoscape software, followed by GO functional enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis via R software, and molecular docking via the Autodock Vina software , respectively. Finally, a survival analysis was performed to evaluate the prognosis of NSCLC patients through key genes.Results: A total of 22 active ingredients of DBD were obtained. The targets found were 182 relevant to DBD and 5,773 to NSCLC, respectively, among which 140 common targets were obtained from Venny diagram. According to the enrichment degree value, five main active ingredients and ten core targets were identified. The enrichment analysis further revealed that DBD could achieve the purpose of treating NSCLC through the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications. The findings from molecular docking demonstrated that quercetin and hederagenin have the best working mechanisms with PDE3A and PTGS1, and those from the survival analysis indicated that high PDE3A gene expression has a relatively poor prognosis for NSCLC patients (p < 0.05), PDE3A may be mainly distributed in the LU65 cell line originated from Asian population. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that DBD could treat NSCLC through the synergistic correlation between multiple ingredients, multiple targets, and multiple pathways; thus, effectively improving NSCLC prognosis.