Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: Gelsemium elegans (Loganiaceae), a well-known toxic vine belonging to Gelsemium genus of Loganiaceae family, has historically been used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of pain, spasticity, skin diseases and malignant tumors. Recently, the injection of the crude alkaloids from G. elegans has been used clinically to treat terminal esophageal and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of compounds remain unclear. This study aims to ascertain molecular targets of compounds from plants about HCC based on network pharmacology, and six compounds, namely Gelsemiol-1-glicoside (97), Yohimbane Alkaloid 9 (67), Ethyl ferulate (113), Gelsemiol-3-glicoside (98), Eleganosides A (124) and Foliasalacioside B1 (126), were predicted to have potential activities for HCC target proteins. Then these compounds with potential effects were evaluated by predicting the b-Raf inhibitory activity, thereby establishing a research method for treatment of plants. Network pharmacology method was utilized to construct the active ingredient-target networks of the plant that were responsible for the beneficial effects against HCC. These attempts may offer several new insights to understand the pharmacological properties of G. elegans and provide crucial material for their further development and research.

Key words: Gelsemium elegans, hepatocellular carcinoma, network pharmacology