Introduction: In the clinic, the herbal compound Shanxian Granule (SXG) is widely used as an adjuvant for cancer therapy. However, its role in glioma is unclear. The study aims to predict the underlying pharmacological function of SXG on glioma by network pharmacology and experiments. Materials and Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in glioma were identified with the WGCNA analysis. The possible mechanism of SXG function on glioma was predicted by proteinprotein interaction (PPI) network construction and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. The interaction between the active ingredients of SXG and its key targets was explored through molecular docking analysis. Results: This study identified 120 core genes involved in SXG on glioma and five active core ingredients of SXG, including BENACTYZINE, Betaxolol, Boldine, etc. We also showed that SXG mainly functions on the nervous system and relevant pathways in glioma. The screened five potential biomarkers, AR, WEE1, CACNA2D1, PTK2B, and FGFR3, showed significant associations with immune cells and exhibited good affinity with the active ingredients. Discussion: We constructed a network pharmacology model from the active ingredients of the drug and glioma-related targets to screen out 120 potential intersection target genes. Immune infiltration analysis further found that these five key markers were closely related to M2 macrophages, resting NK cells, follicular helper T cells, and activated mast cells. In vitro cell experiments confirmed that SXG could significantly inhibit the proliferation and migration of U251 glioma cells. conclusion: This study combines network pharmacological and bioinformatics analysis to identify potential targets and functional pathways of SXG function on glioma, and SXG may be a perspective treatment for glioma. Conclusion: This study combines network pharmacological and bioinformatics analysis to identify potential targets and functional pathways of SXG function on glioma, and SXG may be a potential treatment for glioma.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.