Systemic pharmacology and bioinformatics: Exploring the modern biological mechanisms of rhubarb in the treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has the potential to contribute to the treatment of tumor patients. The integration of TCM with fields such as bioinformatics is crucial to gaining insights into the active compounds, target genes, and therapeutic mechanisms of TCM. In this study, our objective was to investigate the active compounds, target genes, and therapeutic mechanisms of rhubarb in the treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) using network pharmacology and bioinformatics approaches. By integrating multiple omics data sources and analysis methods, we identified 37 highly confident rhubarb target genes for the treatment of PTC. Subsequently, six genes (TP53, JUN, ESR1, CDKN1A, TNF, and MYC) were identified as core targets in the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The herb-component-target network suggested that β-sitosterol played a key role in the antitumor effect of rhubarb, while docking analysis revealed that TP53, JUN, and ESR1 were core target genes binding with β-sitosterol. Additionally, functional annotation implicated that Hepatitis B and P53 signaling were key pathways in the rhubarb therapy for PTC. This study provides insights into the pharmacology of rhubarb and facilitates research on its potential in the treatment of PTC.