Study on the mechanism of Zedoary turmeric oil combined with docetaxel in the treatment of breast cancer based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology

Abstract

In order to reveal the multi-target pharmacological mechanism of Zedoary turmeric oil combined with docetaxel in the treatment of breast cancer, we used network pharmacology and molecular docking. The targets of docetaxel were retrieved from the Swiss Target Prediction database. The active components of Curcuma Zedoary turmeric were screened using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), with criteria set as oral bioavailability OB ≥ 30% and drug-likeness DL ≥ 0.1. Potential targets of these components were subsequently predicted. Breast cancer-related targets were retrieved from the OMIM and GeneCards databases. The Venny tool was used to identify 177 overlapping targets between docetaxel, Zedoary turmeric oil, and breast cancer, followed by protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed using the Metascape database. A drug-breast cancer-KEGG pathway target network was constructed using Cytoscape 3.8.0. Molecular docking was employed to verify the binding ability between drugs and core targets. Results showed that the combined treatment may exert anti-breast cancer effects through key targets such as MAPK1, PIK3CA, and HSP90AA1, primarily implicating the biological process of protein phosphorylation and engaging the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. This study successfully predicted the key targets and enriched pathways of Zedoary turmeric oil combined with docetaxel for breast cancer treatment, providing new insights for further research and development.

Keywords

Zedoary turmeric oil / docetaxel / breast cancer / network pharmacology / molecular docking

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by Key Cultivation Project of Qiqihar Academy of Medical Sciences (No. 2022-ZDPY-003).

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