Study on the Pharmacological Mechanism of the Xihuang Pill and its Treatment of Breast Cancer Based on Nontargeted Metabonomics

Abstract

Abstract Objective. To study the main differential metabolites of Xihuang Pill (XHP) in rat serum and the mechanism of related pathways of metabolites on breast cancer. Method. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of metabolites in XHP drug serum group and blank serum group by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology. And using sample correlation heat map and multivariate statistical analysis methods to compare the metabolic differences between the two groups. The metabolites were analyzed by cluster analysis, Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of genes and Genomes (KEGG) compound classification and KEGG functional and enrichment topology analysis. Result. LC-MS technology identified a total of 765 metabolites in the XHP drug serum group; a total of 697 metabolites in the blank serum group. VIP analysis screened the top 30 serum differential metabolites that were significantly different between the two groups, such as Abscisic acid, Quillaic acid, 2,2-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol, Corey PG-Lactone Diol, (S)-Naproxen and so on. KEGG compound classification showed that most of the metabolites in XHP were classified as phospholipids and amino acids, steroid hormones and carboxylic acids . KEGG functional pathways main involved are Lipid metabolism, Amino acid metabolism, Cancer: overview. KEGG enrichment and topology analysis, mainly involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway and beta-alanine metabolism pathway. Conclusion. The main differential metabolite of XHP in rat serum may be Abscisic acid. XHP may exert its pharmacological effect on breast cancer by regulating steroid hormone biosynthesis pathway to regulate estrogen and progesterone levels and beta-alanine metabolism pathway to induce cancer cell apoptosis.