In silico Analysis of Phytochemicals for Identifying Novel Hub Genes against Prostate Cancer

Abstract

The third most common cause of death worldwide is prostate cancer. There is a significant need for novel anticancer drugs with minimal side effects. Spices are one of the promising sources which can be effectively utilized to treat cancer ailments. According to traditional Chinese medicines, piperine has a wide range of pharmacological effects including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and immune-regulating properties. Some phytochemicals are recommended for lowering the risk of prostate cancer in particular. Piperine is the primary active ingredient of Piper nigrum. The present study explored the possible mechanism of piperine in prostate cancer by employing a network pharmacological method. The chemical characteristics and bioactivity score of a molecule are calculated using Molinspiration. The pharmacokinetic properties of the phytochemicals were examined and estimated by PreADMET. The findings indicated that piperine has a high potential for therapeutic action due to its high bioactivity, flexibility and permeability. The targets of piperine were retrieved using PubChem, Stitch, Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), CHEMBL database and literature analysis. The Metascape database was used to evaluate the enriched KEGG pathway and GO (gene ontology) annotation. Based on molecular interactions, SP1, RELA, NFKB1, TP53, STAT3 and JUN, genes are identified to be the main targets linked to cancer. These top 6 genes may be recognized as key cancer inhibitors and potential targets of piperine to prevent prostate cancer.