Banxia xiexin decoction prevents the development of gastric cancer.

Background: In China banxia xiexin decoction (BXD) has been used in treating gastric cancer (GC) for thousands of years and BXD has a good role in reversing GC histopathology, but its chemical composition and action mechanism are still unknown.

Aim: To investigate the mechanism of action of BXD against GC based on transcriptomics, network pharmacology, in vivo and in vitro experiments.

Methods: The transplanted tumor model was prepared, and the nude mouse were pathologically examined after administration, and hematoxylin-eosin staining was performed. The active ingredients of BXD were quality controlled and identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem quadrupole electrostatic field orbitrap mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS/MS), and traditional Chinese medicines systems pharmacology platform, drug bank and the Swiss target prediction platform to predict the relevant targets, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of GC were screened by RNA-seq sequencing, and the overlapping targets were analyzed to obtain the key targets and pathways. Cell Counting Kit-8, apoptosis assay, cell migration and Realtime fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used for in vitro experiments.

Results: All dosing groups inhibited the growth of transplanted tumors in laboratory-bred strain nude, with the capecitabine group and the BXD medium-dose group being the best. A total of 29 compounds and 859 potential targets in BXD were identified by UPLC-Q-Orbitrap MS/MS and network pharmacology, RNA-seq sequencing found 4767 GC DEGs, which were combined with network pharmacology and analyzed 246 potential therapeutic targets were obtained and pathway results showed that BXD may against GC through the Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKt) signaling pathway. In vitro cellular experiments confirmed that BXD-containing serum and LY294002 could inhibit the proliferation of GC cells, promote apoptosis, and inhibit the migration of GC cells by decreasing the expression of EGFR, PIK3CA, IL6, BCL2 and AKT1 in the PI3K-Akt pathway in MGC-803 expression.

Conclusion: BXD has the effect of inhibiting tumor growth rate and delaying the development of GC. Its mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.