Study on mechanism of Spatholobi Caulis in the treatment of the hand-foot skin reaction induced by targeted drug therapy based on network pharmacology and molecular docking: An observational study

Based on network pharmacology and molecular docking methods, this study explored its active compounds and confirmed its potential mechanism of action against Hand-foot skin reaction induced by tumor-targeted drugs. Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform and UniProt Database were used to obtain the active ingredients and target proteins of Spatholobi Caulis. All hand-foot skin reaction (HFSR)-related targets were obtained with the help of the Human Gene Database, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Humans (OMIM), DisGeNET and DrugBank databases. Cytoscape 3.7.1 software was used to construct the active ingredient-target visualization network of Spatholobi Caulis, and the common target network of Spatholobi Caulis and HFSR. And through the BisoGenet plug-in in Cytoscape, PPI network topology analysis was performed. The Metescape database and online mapping tool platform were used for Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis to identify the key pathways of Spatholobi Caulis. Finally, Autodock Vina software and PyMol 2.5 software were used for molecular docking verification. There were 24 active components of Spatholobi Caulis and 244 target genes, 1635 disease-related target genes, 51 common target genes of Spatholobi Caulis and Hand-foot skin reaction, and key targets included NTRK1, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), APP, TP53, HSP90AB1, HSP90AA, CUL3, etc. GO functional analysis involved a total of 66 molecular functions, 39 cellular components, and 817 biological processes. KEGG pathway analysis found 154 related signaling pathways, mainly enriched in Pathways in cancer, Human cytomegalovirus infection, Kaposi arcoma-associated herpesvirus infection, panic cancer, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, P13K-Akt signaling pathway, Proteoglycans in cancer, HIF-1 signaling pathway and Ras signaling pathway, etc. Molecular docking results showed that luteolin, the active component of Spatholobi Caulis, had a high affinity with EGFR. Medicagol, the active components of Spatholobi Caulis, is proved in the Hand-foot skin reaction induced by lung cancer targeted therapy by regulating multiple signaling pathways through EGFR. It is confirmed that the treatment of Hand-foot skin reaction has the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway regulation.