Worldwide, Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Ocimum sanctum, commonly known as holy basil (Tulsi), is an herbaceous perennial that belongs to the family Lamiaceae and is considered one of the most important sources of medicine and drugs for the treatment of various diseases. The presented study aims to discover the potential phenomenon of Ocimum sanctum in the medicament of tuberculosis using a network pharmacology approach. Active ingredients of Ocimum sanctum were fetched through two different databases and from literature review and then targets of these compounds were harvested by SwissTargetPrediction. Potential targets of TB were downloaded from GeneCards and DisGNet databases. After screening of mutual targets, enrichment analysis through DAVID was performed. Protein–protein interaction was performed using the String database and visualized by Cytoscape. Then the target-compound-pathway network was constructed with Cytoscape. In the end, molecular docking was performed to get the potential active ingredients against tuberculosis. Eight active ingredients with 776 potential therapeutic targets were obtained from O. sanctum, 632 intersected targets from two databases were found in TB, 72 common potential targets were found from TB and O. sanctum. The topological analysis exposes those ten targets that formed the core PPI network. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis reveals that active compounds have the greater binding ability with the potential target to suppress TB.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant liver tumors with high mortality. Chronic hepatitis B and C viruses, aflatoxins, and alcohol are among the most common causes of hepatocellular carcinoma. The limited reported data and multiple spectra of pathophysiological mechanisms of HCC make it a challenging task and a serious economic burden in health care management. Solanum surattense (S. surattense) is the herbal plant used in many regions of Asia to treat many disorders including various types of cancer. Previous in vitro studies revealed the medicinal importance of S. surattense against hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the exact molecular mechanism of S. surattense against HCC still remains unclear. In vitro and in silico experiments were performed to find the molecular mechanism of S. surattense against HCC. In this study, the network pharmacology approach was used, through which multi-targeted mechanisms of S. surattense were explored against HCC. Active ingredients and potential targets of S. surattense found in HCC were figured out. Furthermore, the molecular docking technique was employed for the validation of the successful activity of bioactive constituents against potential genes of HCC. The present study investigated the active “constituent–target–pathway” networks and determined the tumor necrosis factor (TNF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Bcl-2-like protein 1(BCL2L1), estrogen receptor (ER), GTPase HRas, hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1-α), Harvey Rat sarcoma virus, also known as transforming protein p21 (HRAS), and AKT Serine/Threonine Kinase 1 (AKT1), and found that the genes were influenced by active ingredients of S. surattense. In vitro analysis was also performed to check the anti-cancerous activity of S. surattense on human liver cells. The result showed that S. surattense appeared to act on HCC via modulating different molecular functions, many biological processes, and potential targets implicated in 11 different pathways. Furthermore, molecular docking was employed to validate the successful activity of the active compounds against potential targets. The results showed that quercetin was successfully docked to inhibit the potential targets of HCC. This study indicates that active constituents of S. surattense and their therapeutic targets are responsible for their pharmacological activities and possible molecular mechanisms for treating HCC. Lastly, it is concluded that active compounds of S. surattense act on potential genes along with their influencing pathways to give a network analysis in system pharmacology, which has a vital role in the development and utilization of drugs. The current study lays a framework for further experimental research and widens the clinical usage of S. surattense.

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