The potential mechanism of ursolic acid in the treatment of bladder cancer based on network pharmacology and molecular docking

作者全名："Huang, Xiao-Long; Sun, Yan; Wen, Peng; Pan, Jun-Cheng; He, Wei-Yang"

作者地址："[Huang, Xiao-Long; Sun, Yan; He, Wei-Yang] Chongqing Med Univ, Dept Vasc Surg, Affiliated Hosp 1, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [Huang, Xiao-Long; Wen, Peng; Pan, Jun-Cheng] Peoples Hosp Hechuan, Dept Urol, Chongqing, Peoples R China; [He, Wei-Yang] Chongqing Med Univ, Dept Urol, Affiliated Hosp 1, 1 Youyi Rd, Chongqing 400016, Peoples R China"

通信作者："He, WY (通讯作者)，Chongqing Med Univ, Dept Urol, Affiliated Hosp 1, 1 Youyi Rd, Chongqing 400016, Peoples R China."

来源：JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL RESEARCH

ESI学科分类：CLINICAL MEDICINE

WOS号：WOS:001179048300001

JCR分区：Q4

影响因子：1.4

年份：2024

卷号：52

期号：3

开始页：　

结束页：　

文献类型：Article

关键词：Network pharmacology; molecular docking; ursolic acid; bladder cancer; mechanism; bioinformatics

摘要："Objective This study explored the potential molecular mechanisms of ursolic acid (UA) in bladder cancer treatment using network pharmacology and molecular docking.Methods The Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology and UniProt databases were used to screen potential targets of UA. Relevant bladder cancer target genes were extracted using the GeneCards database. All data were pooled and intercrossed to obtain common target genes of UA and bladder cancer. Gene Ontology functional annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses were performed. Molecular docking was conducted to verify the possible binding conformation between UA and bladder cancer cells. Then, in vitro experiments were performed to further validate the predicted results.Results UA exerts anti-tumor effects on bladder cancer through multiple targets and pathways. Molecular docking indicated that UA undergoes stable binding with the proteins encoded by the top six core genes (STAT3, VEGFA, CASP3, TP53, IL1B, and CCND1). The in vitro experiments verified that UA can induce bladder cancer cell apoptosis by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.Conclusions Our study illustrated the potential mechanism of UA in bladder cancer based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. The results will provide scientific references for follow-up studies and clinical treatment."

基金机构：National Natural Science Foundation of China; Central Laboratory of The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University

基金资助正文："The authors thank the Central Laboratory of The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (Chongqing, China) for their technical support."