Assessing the Anti-cancer Therapeutic Mechanism of a Herbal Combination for Breast Cancer on System-level by a Network Pharmacological Approach

Background/aim: Accumulating evidence has shown therapeutic effects of herbals on breast cancer, a commonly diagnosed malignancy in women worldwide. However, their underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We aimed to explore the mode of action of a recently developed herbal combination at system-level.

Materials and methods: We employed network pharmacological approaches to study the mechanism of a combination of three herbals, Astragalus membranaceus, Angelica gigas and Trichosanthes kirilowii by investigating active compounds and performing functional enrichment analysis for the interacting targets.

Results: For in silico pharmacokinetic evaluation, ten active ingredients interacted with fifty-six breast cancer-associated therapeutic targets. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that TNF, estrogen, PI3K-Akt and MAPK signaling pathways were involved in tumorigenesis and development of breast cancer. The pharmacological mechanisms might be associated with cellular effects on proliferation, cell cycle process and apoptosis.

Conclusion: The present study provides novel insights into the system-level pharmacological mechanisms underlying a herbal combination used for breast cancer therapies.

Keywords: Systems biology; breast cancer; combination; herbal; network pharmacology; pharmacological mechanism.