Study on the mechanism of Erzhi Pill in the treatment of breast cancer based on network pharmacology

Objective: To explore the possible mechanism of Erzhi Pill in the treatment of breast cancer based on network pharmacology. Methods: Through systematic pharmacology database and analysis platform of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCMSP) and literature review, the candidate active ingredients and corresponding targets of Erzhi Pill were retrieved and collected. The UniProt database and the Human Genome Annotation Database (Genecards) were used to compare the results, and the potential target genes were obtained for the coincidence of Erzhi Pill and breast cancer. Cytoscape was used to construct the “candidate component - action target” network of Erzhi Pill. Generate Style from Statistics tool in String database and Cytoscape software was combined to construct protein interaction network.The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomics (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and GO classification enrichment analysis for targets of Erzhi Pill were conducted using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID ) bioinformation resource Database. Results: A total of 21 candidate active components, including Beta-sitosterol, Quercetin, Luteolin, Demethylwedelolactone, Kaempferol and so on, were screened from Erzhi Pill, corresponding to 158 target genes, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), amino-terminal kinase (C-Jun), proto-oncogene (C-MYC), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and mainly involved in TNF-α, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/Akt), tumor suppressor gene p53, toll-like receptor family and other signaling pathways. Conclusion: This study predicted the possible mechanism of action of Erzhi Pill in the treatment of breast cancer based on the method of network pharmacology, and provided a direction for further research