Identifying traditional Chinese medicine combinations for breast cancer treatment based on transcriptional regulation and chemical structure.

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is a prevalent form of cancer among women. Despite the emergence of numerous therapies over the past few decades, few have achieved the ideal therapeutic effect due to the heterogeneity of BC. Drug combination therapy is seen as a promising approach to cancer treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), known for its multicomponent nature, has been validated for its anticancer properties, likely due to the synergy effect of the key components. However, identifying effective component combinations from TCM is challenging due to the vast combination possibilities and limited prior knowledge. This study aims to present a strategy for discovering synergistic compounds based on transcriptional regulation and chemical structure. First, BC-related gene sets were used to screen TCM-derived compound combinations guided by synergistic regulation. Then, machine learning models incorporating chemical structural features were established to identify potential compound combinations. Subsequently, the pair of honokiol and neochlorogenic acid was selected by integrating the results of compound combination screening. Finally, cell experiments were conducted to confirm the synergistic effect of the pair against BC. Overall, this study offers an integrated screening strategy to discover compound combinations of TCM against BC. The tumor cell suppression effect of the honokiol and neochlorogenic acid pair validated the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.