Integrating Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation to Decipher the Mechanism of Action of Astragalus-Atractylodes Herb Pair in Treating Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Purpose: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy is an important means to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), Astragalus (Latin name: Hedysarum Multijugum Maxim; Chinese name: Huangqi, HQ) and Atractylodes (Latin name: Atractylodes Macrocephala Koidz; Chinese name: Baizhu, BZ) (HQBZ), a classic herb pair, is often used in combination to HCC. However, the main components and potential mechanisms of HQBZ therapy in HCC remain unclear. This study aimed to identify the potential active ingredients and molecular mechanisms of action of HQBZ in HCC treatment. Methods: The HQBZ-Compound-Target-HCC network and HQBZ-HCC transcriptional regulatory network were constructed to screen the core active compound components and targets of HQBZ therapy for HCC. Molecular docking techniques are used to verify the stability of binding core active compound components to targets. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis were used to explore the signaling pathway of HQBZ in HCC treatment, the mechanism of HQBZ treatment of HCC was verified based on in vivo H22 tumor bearing mice and in vitro cell experiments. Results: Network pharmacology and molecular docking studies showed that HQBZ treatment of HCC was related to the targeted regulation of IL-6 and STAT3 by the active compound biatractylolide, KEGG pathway enrichment analysis suggest that HQBZ may play a role in the treatment of HCC through IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway. In vitro experiment results proved that HQBZ could regulate IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway transduction on CD8+T cells, inhibit CD8+T cell exhaustion and restore the function of exhausted CD8+T cells. In vivo experiment results proved that HQBZ can regulate IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway transduction in H22 liver cancer model mouse tumor tissue, increased the proportion of tumor infiltrating CD8+T cells. Conclusion: This study found that HQBZ may play a therapeutic role in HCC by targeting IL-6 and STAT3 through biatractylolide, its mechanism of action is related to regulating IL-6/STAT3 signaling pathway, reversing T cell failure and increasing tumor infiltration CD8+T cells.

Correlation analysis between characteristics under gastroscope and image information of tongue in patients with chronic gastriti.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between diagnostic information of tongue and gastroscopy results of patients with chronic gastritis. METHODS: Frequent pattern growth (FP-Growth), SPSS Modeler was used to analyze the correlation rules between the image information of tongue parameters and the characteristics of the stomach and duodenum seen under gastroscopy. RESULTS: Ranking in order of confidence: cyanotic tongue, slippery fur, yellow fur and spotted tongue were sequently associated with both gastric antrum mucosal hyperemia or edema and gastric antrum mucosal erythema/macula. L, one value of tongue coating color, which counted among (30, 60), tooth-marked tongue and b, one value of tongue coating color, which counted in the range of (5, 20) were sequently associated with gastric antrum mucosal erythema /macula. A, one value of tongue body color, which counted in the range of (0, 20), was related to both gastric antrum mucosal hyperemia or edema and gastric antrum mucosal erythema /macula. a, one value of tongue coating color, which counted in the range of (15, 35), was associated with gastric antrum mucosal erythema / macula. There are a total of 9 strong correlation rules. CONCLUSIONS: Cyanotic tongue, slippery fur, yellow fur, the CIE Lab value of tongue coating, a, the value of tongue body color, spotted tongue, and tooth-marked tongue are all related to the gastric antrum mucosal hyperemia or edema and gastric antrum mucosal erythema / macula. The conditions of gastric mucosa could be predicted by the examination of the above related image information of tongue.