Systems pharmacology approaches decipher the anti-cancer efficacy of ethnopharmacological agents in hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) poses a significant global health burden with limited therapeutic efficacy. Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) offer multi-target potential, yet their systematic screening and mechanistic elucidation remain challenging. We established a high-throughput multi-omics platform integrating transcriptomics, proteomics, and deep learning (autoencoder and multiple kernel learning) to screen 187 medicinal plants. Five CHMs candidates were identified and shown to modulate hub genes (e.g., AKR1B10, HMGCR, THBS1) and key pathways (TNF/IL-17/MAPK, apoptosis, ferroptosis). Proteomic validation and functional assays confirmed their roles in suppressing proliferation, migration, and inducing apoptosis in HCC cells. This study provides a robust, data-driven pipeline for natural anti-HCC drug discovery, linking specific hub genes to CHM efficacy and offering novel insights into precision ethnopharmacology.
Authors
- Ning Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1770-3151)
- Qinghua Kong
- Wendong He
- Tingting Hao
- Qiangqiang Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1109-5335)
- Xuzhen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3670-6657)
- Xiaolei Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4198-4451)
- Z. Qiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8044-1230)
- Dandan Mo
- Yang Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6212-3055)
- Baozheng Chen
- Xianghua Xia
- Dawei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4133-1263)
- Hongmei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1981-1893)
- Weibin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5189-0483)
- Yang Xiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7144-9276)
- Yanqi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3499-0201)
- Ru Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8744-4525)
- Xing Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8036-7710)
- Wenqing Su (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3724-6385)
- D.Y. Jiang
Institutions
- Kunming Institute of Botany (CN)
- Guangxi Medical University (CN)
- Yunnan University (CN)
- Yunnan Agricultural University (CN)
- Yunnan Animal Science and Veterinary Institute (CN)
- Guangxi Medicinal Botanical Garden (CN)
- Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities (CN)
- University of South China (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-12-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27744-w
- Primary Topic
- Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00