Discovery of Active Ingredients Oleanolic Acid, Ursolic Acid, and Arbutin for <i>in Vitro</i> Anti-Melanoma: Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation

Objective Antitumor effects of the medicinal herb Prinsepia utilis Royle ( P. utilis) have been reported. This study aimed to identify the potential functional components and molecular mechanisms of P. utilis in the treatment of melanoma through network pharmacology and experimental verification. Methods Bioinformatics database and pharmacology analysis platform of the Chinese medicine system were used to obtain the active components of P. utilis, and the potential targets were predicted by the Swiss Target Prediction database. Disease targets associated with melanoma were retrieved from the Genecard database. Network topology analysis and functional enrichment analysis were conducted to screen out the core targets and related signal pathways. The molecular docking method was employed to evaluate the core target binding to bioactive ingredients of P. utilis, and a molecular biology experimental approach was performed to predict and verify the potential molecular mechanism of P. utilis in treating melanoma. Results KEGG pathway analysis revealed the enrichment of multiple cancer-related pathways and signaling pathways. Oleanolic acid (OA), Ursolic acid (UA), Arbutin are the active ingredients of P. utilis. The crude extract of P. utilis was able to inhibit melanin in A375 cells. The active compounds OA and UA in P. utilis can significantly inhibit the growth and migration ability of human melanoma cells A375 while inducing apoptosis and inhibiting tyrosinase activity and melanin synthesis. In contrast, arbutin does not show obvious performance in these biological activities. Conclusion These findings suggest that OA and UA are promising as more effective anti-melanoma active ingredients in P. utilis. In conclusion, these studies suggest that OA and UA can protect against melanoma by regulating tyrosine to inhibit melanogenesis.