BaBao Dan Suppresses Tumor Growth of Pancreatic Cancer Through Modulating Transcriptional Reprogramming of Cancer-Related Genes

Abstract

Background and Aims: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of refractory malignancies without efficient therapeutics. Babao Dan (BBD) was partially effective to suppress tumor growth of PDAC in clinical practice. However, the molecular mechanisms were unclear. Methods: We established PDAC mice models and treated them with BBD through intragastric administration. Treatment and control groups were then subjected to highthroughput RNA sequencing. We presented the transcriptional changes upon BBD treatment by using computational analysis comparing BBD treatment and control groups. Functional enrichment analysis was employed to investigate the biological processes or pathways that BBD modulates. Results: BBD treatment showed strong suppression on tumor growth of PDAC, even stronger than Gemcitabine. Through differential analysis comparing BBD treatment and control groups, we identified 638 up-regulated and 259 down-regulated genes in the BBD treatment group. BBD was found to activate tumor suppressor genes, such as MTUS1, PDGFB, SOD3, and UCHL1. Furthermore, we revealed that BBD treatment inhibited cancer-related pathways and elevated activities of metabolism-related processes. The BBD-modulated metabolic genes were further showed to be associated with patient survival in an independent cohort with pancreatic cancer. Conclusion: BBD repressed the tumor growth of PDAC. BBD treatment modulated expression of cancer-related genes in PDAC. BBD suppressed cancer-related pathways

OMICS Applications for Medicinal Plants in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Current Advancements and Future Perspectives

“…High-throughput RNA sequencing identified 638 upregulated genes (including tumour suppressor genes such as MTUS1, PDGFB, SOD3, and UCHL1) and 259 downregulated genes (including oncogenes such as CDK15 and MYBL1) in response to BBD. These altered genes were associated with BBD-inhibited cancer-related pathways (MAPK cascade and Wnt signalling pathway) and BBDelevated metabolic activities (steroid hormone biosynthesis and adipocyte lipolysis regulation) (Song et al, 2020). Marigold SFE, a supercritical CO 2 extract from Calendula officinalis L., induced autophagic cell death in MiaPaca-2 pancreatic cancer cells by diminishing mitochondrial respiration and aerobic glycolysis.…”