Dong YD, Wu XM, Liu WQ, Hu YW, Zhang H, Fang WD, Luo Q. Potential mechanism of Camellia luteoflora against colon adenocarcinoma: An integration of network pharmacology and molecular docking. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(6): 105782 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i6.105782]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Qing Luo, Laboratory of Cell Engineering of Guizhou Province, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, No. 149 Dalian Road, Huichuan District, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China. zlsysluoqing@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2025; 17(6): 105782 Published online Jun 15, 2025. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i6.105782
Potential mechanism of Camellia luteoflora against colon adenocarcinoma: An integration of network pharmacology and molecular docking
Yu-Di Dong, Xi-Ming Wu, Wan-Qing Liu, You-Wu Hu, Hong Zhang, Wan-Di Fang, Qing Luo
Yu-Di Dong, Wan-Qing Liu, You-Wu Hu, Hong Zhang, Wan-Di Fang, Qing Luo, The Public Experimental Center of Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China
Xi-Ming Wu, Department of Periodontics, Suzhou Stomatological Hospital, Suzhou 215005, Jiangsu Province, China
Wan-Qing Liu, You-Wu Hu, Hong Zhang, Wan-Di Fang, Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China
Qing Luo, Laboratory of Cell Engineering of Guizhou Province, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: Dong YD and Luo Q designed research; Wu XM and Liu WQ contributed new reagents or analytic tools; Dong YD, Wu XM and Hu YW analyzed data; Zhang H and Fang WD performed visualization; Dong YD wrote the paper; Luo Q and Wu XM reviewed the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by Guizhou Provincial Basic Research Program (Natural Science), No. ZK[2023]-554; and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 32360144.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author due to layout restriction.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qing Luo, Laboratory of Cell Engineering of Guizhou Province, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, No. 149 Dalian Road, Huichuan District, Zunyi 563003, Guizhou Province, China. zlsysluoqing@163.com
Received: February 7, 2025 Revised: April 1, 2025 Accepted: April 17, 2025 Published online: June 15, 2025 Processing time: 127 Days and 5.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Camellia luteoflora is a unique variety of Camellia in China which is only distributes in Chishui City, Guizhou Province and Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. Its dried leaves are used by local residents as tea to drink with light yellow and special aroma for health care. It has high potential economic medicinal value. Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is the third most frequent malignancy and its incidence and mortality is increasing. However, the current common treatments for COAD bring great side effects. In recent years, natural products and their various derivatives have shown significant potential to supplement conventional therapies and to reduce associated toxicity while improving efficacy. In order to overcome the limitations of traditional treatment methods, the global demand and development of natural anti-COAD drugs were increasingly hindered.
AIM
To investigate the potential targets and mechanisms of Camellia luteoflora anti-COAD.
METHODS
Nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry was used to identified the compounds of Camellia luteoflora. Network pharmacology analysis and survival analysis was used in this study to investigate the anti-COAD effect and mechanism of Camellia luteoflora.
RESULTS
Firstly, a total of 13 compounds were identified. Secondly, 10 active ingredients for 204 potential targets were screened and protein-protein interaction analysis showed that TP53, STAT3, ESR1, MAPK8, AKR1C3, RELA, CYP19A1, CYP1A1, JUN and CYP17A1 were hub targets. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that Camellia luteoflora exerted anti-COAD effect through multiple functions and pathways. Then, the analysis of survival and stage indicated that TP53 was highly expressed in COAD and the overall survival of high-TP53 and high-CYP19A1 COAD patients was significantly shorter than the low group and there was significant difference in MAPK and RELA expression between different stages. Finally, the molecular docking results demonstrated the binding affinities and sites between active ingredients and TP53, STAT3, ESR1.
CONCLUSION
Our study systematically demonstrated the potential anti-COAD mechanism of Camellia luteoflora and provided a theoretical basis for its further application in the COAD treatment.
Core Tip: Camellia luteoflora is rare and only distributes in Chishui City, Guizhou Province and Luzhou City, Sichuan Province in China, which has high potential economic medicinal value. Natural products and their various derivatives have consistently played a crucial role in anti-tumor drug development. In this study, we aim to explore the active ingredients in Camellia luteoflora and comprehensively identify the pharmacological interaction network of Camellia luteoflora with colon adenocarcinoma.
