Mechanism of action of Scrofula ointment on gastric cancer based on network pharmacology study

Objective: To comprehensively explore the mechanism of action of Scrofula ointment in treating gastric cancer by network pharmacology and molecular docking, utilizing GO, KEGG and PPI interactions. METHODS: There are 31 active compounds in Scrofula ointment components, which regulate 187 targets in the human body, and there are 862 significant mutated genes in gastric cancer, and a total of 31 intersecting genes in Scrofula ointment and gastric cancer. All of these 31 genes were significantly differently expressed in normal and gastric cancer tissues. Biological process (BP) enrichment yielded 1000 entries, cellular composition (CC) enrichment yielded 159 entries, and molecular function (MF) enrichment yielded 247 entries. KEGG signaling pathway enrichment yielded 211 signaling pathways. The PPI interactions and the construction of herbal medicine-active ingredient-target-disease gene network map yielded that the active ingredient of Poria cocos,rosemarinic acid, quercetin, harpagide, anguloside C, kombuchin and hesperidin, modulated AKT1, TNF, ANXA1, and NR3C1 to play a therapeutic role in the treatment of gastric cancer, where the molecular docking were all <-5, which was significant. CONCLUSION:rosemarinic acid, quercetin, harpagide, anguloside C, kombuchin and hesperidin in Scrofula ointment plays a role in treating gastric cancer by regulating the genes of AKT1, TNF, ANXA1 and NR3C1 in gastric cancer cells.