Study on the Potential Mechanism of Traditional Marine Chinese Medicine Beishashen in Preventing Lung Injury Induced by Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

Abstract

Lung injury after chemoradiotherapy is a common adverse reaction that is caused by radiation and chemotherapy drugs. Beishashen is a traditional marine Chinese medicine with multiple pharmacological properties. The previous research reported that it has a potential prevention effect on injuries caused by radiation and chemotherapy drugs, but the specific mechanism is unknown. Consequently, this study is based on bioinformatics and other methods, focusing on exploring the potential targets and molecular mechanisms of Beishashen in preventing lung injury after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This study used network pharmacology methods to identify the bioactive compounds of Beishashen in order to better understand its therapeutic radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) and chemotherapy-induced lung injury (CILI) molecular mechanisms. We found that the role of Beishashen in preventing RILI and CILI involved several main pathways, especially the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. PTGS2, PIK3CG, and RXRA were considered as key targets. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics showed good binding between the active ingredients and key targets, especially between alloisoimperatorin and RXRA. This study revealed the role of Beishashen in some potential regulating signal pathways in the treatment and prevention of RILI and CILI. Quercetin and alloisoimperatorin were the main active ingredients with low toxicity and can effectively bind with key targets. These findings provided important insights into the potential use of Beishashen for RILI and CILI.