AUTHOR=Yan Lili , Zhang Zhen , Liu Yanfen , Ren Shuyi , Zhu Zhiyu , Wei Lu , Feng Jiao , Duan Ting , Sun Xueni , Xie Tian , Sui Xinbing 

TITLE=Anticancer Activity of Erianin: Cancer-Specific Target Prediction Based on Network Pharmacology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.862932

DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2022.862932

ISSN=2296-889X

ABSTRACT=<p>Erianin is a major bisbenzyl compound extracted from <italic>Dendrobium chrysotoxum</italic> Lindl., an important traditional Chinese herb. In recent years, a growing body of evidence has proved the potential therapeutic effects of erianin on various cancers, including hepatoma, melanoma, non-small-cell lung carcinoma, myelogenous leukemia, breast cancer, and osteosarcoma. Especially, the pharmacological activities of erianin, such as antioxidant and anticancer activity, have been frequently demonstrated by plenty of studies. In this study, we firstly conducted a systematic review on reported anticancer activity of erianin. All updated valuable information regarding the underlying action mechanisms of erianin in specific cancer was recorded and summarized in this paper. Most importantly, based on the molecular structure of erianin, its potential molecular targets were analyzed and predicted by means of the SwissTargetPrediction online server (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.swisstargetprediction.ch" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://www.swisstargetprediction.ch</ext-link>). In the meantime, the potential therapeutic targets of 10 types of cancers in which erianin has been proved to have anticancer effects were also predicted <italic>via</italic> the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim</ext-link>). The overlapping targets may serve as valuable target candidates through which erianin exerts its anticancer activity. The clinical value of those targets was subsequently evaluated by analyzing their prognostic role in specific cancer using Kaplan-Meier plotter (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://Kmplot.com/analysis/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://Kmplot.com/analysis/</ext-link>) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/</ext-link>). To better assess and verify the binding ability of erianin with its potential targets, molecular flexible docking was performed using Discovery Studio (DS). The valuable targets obtained from the above analysis and verification were further mapped to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/</ext-link>) to explore the possible signaling pathways disturbed/regulated by erianin. Furthermore, the <italic>in silico</italic> prediction of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) properties of erianin was also performed and provided in this paper. Overall, in this study, we aimed at 1) collecting all experiment-based important information regarding the anticancer effect and pharmacological mechanism of erianin, 2) providing the predicted therapeutic targets and signaling pathways that erianin might act on in cancers, and 3) especially providing <italic>in silico</italic> ADMET properties of erianin.</p>