Background
Artemisiae Scopariae Herba (ASH) is the dried aerial part of
Artemisia scoparia Waldst.et Kit [
1], which is widespread across Eurasia from central Europe to Japan and China. It is one of the most commonly used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbal, and first recorded as medicinal plant about two thousand years ago in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, the earliest pharmacology monograph of TCM [
2]. Chemical constituents of ASH are complicated, containing coumarous, flavonoids, organic acids, phenolic acids, and terpenoids [
3]. This plant has diverse bioactivities, including neuroprotection, antivirus, analgesic, hypotensive, hepatoprotective and anti-osteoporotic effects [
4]. Pharmacological researches showed distinct antitumor activity of ASH [
5]. Its extract could significantly suppress the growth and colony formation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells [
6], as well as HS578T cells [
7], which were epithelial cells isolated from human breast cancer tissues. The ethyl acetate part of ASH was reported to inhibit growth and migration of HCC cells by changing mitochondrial membrane potential [
8]. Several naturally occurring components of ASH also possessed obvious antitumor activities. Capillarisin in ASH was reported to exhibit a certain inhibitory effect on prostate cancer cells, and arrest the growth of cancer cells through the IL-6/STAT3 pathway [
9]. In this pathway, interleukin-6 (IL-6) rapidly activates the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which is a major mediator regulating signal transduction from IL-6 to the nucleus and inducing the transcription of proliferation associated genes. These reports suggested great potential of ASH in the treatment of tumors, whereas the action mechanism was complex.
Topoisomerase I (topo I), an enzyme involved in the relaxation of supercoiled DNA, is an important biological target in the treatment of tumor [
10,
11]. Inhibitors of topo I could limit activity of the enzyme in its enzymatic cycle [
12]. Natural product has become an active field of research for topo I inhibitors as their low cytotoxicity [
13]. A collection of low cytotoxic or non-cytotoxic compounds with various structures were identified from plants and their symbiotic organisms [
14]. For instance, camptothecin and its synthetic derivatives show good inhibitory activity of topo I [
15]. The 9-methoxycamptothecin from
Nothapodytes nimmoniana (J. Graham) Mabberly exhibited significant antitumor activity in vitro as a topo I inhibitor [
16]. Some of its derivatives have been approved for clinical use in tumor therapy, such as irinotecan, topotecan, and belotecan [
17]. Additionally, many flavonoids were found to be topo I inhibitors, including morin, fisetin, quercetin, and myricetin [
18]. Structural features of active site and action of various topo I inhibitors also become a hot topic [
19]. Curcumin and its natural derivatives, cyclocurcumin and curcumin sulphate were predicted to be the most potent topo I inhibitors, docked at the site of DNA cleavage parallel to the axis of DNA base pairing, and that residues Arg364, Asn722 and base A113 played an important role [
20]. However, very few investigations concerned with topo I inhibitors from ASH and their mechanisms.
The underlying mechanisms of compounds from medicinal plants against tumor are obscured as complex chemical composition and diverse pathways [
21]. Recently, complex network has emerged as an effective solution of information mining on big data, and widely applied in many fields about natural science and social science [
22‐
24]. It has been proved to be an excellent tool in the researches of complex diseases including cancer, AIDS and asthma [
25,
26]. This methodology has also been used in the studies of medicines and natural products [
24,
27]. For instance, Jia et al.(2021) reported a complex network of prescribed herbs of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of hypertensive nephropathy, and that fourteen herbs were found to act through down-regulating the expression of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF, IL-1B, and IL-6 and the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways [
28]. Dong et al. (2021) applied this method to investigate the mechanism of the
Astragalus membranaceous and
Angelica sinensis in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN), which might treat DN by acting on vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), tumor Protein P53 (TP53), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), microtubule affinity regulating kinase 1 (MARK1), etc., and regulate apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, glucose, and lipid metabolism processes [
29]. These reports suggested that complex network could be used to explore the antitumor mechanism of topo I inhibitors from ASH from the system point of view.
In the present study, an interdisciplinary analysis was performed to screen topo I inhibitors from ASH extract, and explore the underlying mechanisms. The topo I inhibitors were identified by bioaffinity ultrafiltration-UFLC-ESI-Q/TOF-MS/MS. Combination mechanisms of hydroxygenkwanin, chlorogenic acid, and topo I were revealed using in silico docking. Multiple complex networks were constructed based on the selected topo I inhibitors, related target proteins and pathways. Characteristics of the networks were further analyzed, designed to clarify the antitumor mechanisms. This study would provide a new strategy for the research of topo I inhibitors originated from medicinal plants.
Methods
Materials and preparation of samples
The above-ground part of crude Artemisiae Scopariae Herba was obtained from Baoji Chenguang Biotechnology Co., Ltd (Baoji, China). Samples were collected at the seedling stage. Plant species was authenticated by Prof. Shifeng Ni from Northwest University, Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Northwest University, Xi’an, China. A voucher specimen (BJWLXY-CC-SKLP220301) was deposited at Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry, Baoji University of Art and Sciences, Baoji, China. Dried ASH powders (100 g), consisted of leaf and stem of the plant, were treated with ultrasonic-assisted extraction method using 50% ethanol for 30 min, and repeated for another two times. Then, the 50% ethanol solution was leached with ethyl acetate (saturated by water). Solvents were subsequently removed by a vacuum centrifugal concentrator. The residues were stored at -80℃ for 2 weeks before use.
Chemicals and materials
DNA topoisomerase I (Topo I, human) and sulphorhodamine B (SRB) were acquired from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). Amicon Ultra-0.5 centrifugal filters (3 kDa) and ultrapure water were obtained from Millipore Co. Ltd. (Bedford, MA, USA). Methanol and Acetonitrile (HPLC grade) were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). Other chemicals were analytical grade and supplied by Aladdin industrial corporation (Shanghai, China). Fetal bovine serum (FBS), plasmid pBR322, 4 S Green Plus nucleic acid dye and TAE buffer were obtained from Sangon Biotech Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). A549 cells were supplied by Beyotime Institute of Biotechnology (Haimen, China). DNA topoisomerase I (Topo I, human) was acquired from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA).
Cell culture, cell viability, and morphological assessment
The A549 cells (epithelial cells isolated from human lung cancer tissues) were maintained in Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS,
v/
v), glutamine (2 mM), and antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin, 100 units/mL) in a 5% CO
2 atmosphere at 37 °C. Cells were seeded overnight in a 96-well plate (6 × 10
3 cells/well), and treated with ASH extract, quercetin (positive control) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, negative control) for 48 h. SRB assay was then performed to measure cell viability according to previous report [
30]. Absorbance at 530 nm was recorded using a microplate reader (Synergy NEO 2, Bio-Tek). IC
50 was acquired by modified Karber’s method [
31]. Subsequently, Hoechst 33,342 staining was applied to detect the apoptotic morphology. A549 cells were cultured in 12-well plates to adhere for 24 h, and treated with ASH extract or DMSO (control) for 24 h. After incubation, Hoechst 33,342 was added to the cells. The stained cells were observed using a fluorescent microscopy (ECLIPSE Ti-E, Nikon).
Bioaffinity ultrafiltration for screening potential topo I inhibitors
ASH extract (20 µL, 10 mg/mL) were incubated with topo I (20 µL, 12.5 U) and 460 µL buffer (pH 7.9) at 37 °C for 30 min. Then the samples were transferred into ultrafiltration tubes (3 kDa) and centrifuged at 14,000 g for 20 min. The tubes were flushed using 500 µL buffer for two times to remove the compounds not bound to the enzyme. Subsequently, methanol (500 µL, 50%) was added to the samples and incubated for 10 min, then centrifuged at 14,000 g for 20 min, which also repeated twice. The filtrate were combined and processed with 0.22 μm filter membrane.
UFLC-ESI-Q/TOF-MS/MS analysis
The samples were analyzed by a LC-20AD
XR UFLC-4600 Q/TOF system (Shimadzu, Japan & AB SCIEX, USA), equipped with a Shim-pack XR-ODS column (100 mm×2.0 mm, 2.2 μm; Shimadzu, Japan). Detection parameters were set according to our previous report with minor modifications [
32]. The injection volume was 1 µL, and that flow rate was 0.25 mL/min. The mobile phase included water (A) and methanol (B) containing formic acid (0.1%). Gradient elution program was set as follow: 10% B at 0-0.5 min, 10–30% B at 0.5-2 min, 30–48% B at 2–15 min, 48–100% B at 15–20 min, 100% B at 20–23 min. Mass scan range were 100–1000
m/
z. Data were collected by Analyst (ver. 1.7, AB SCIEX, USA), and processed with PeakView (ver. 2.2, AB SCIEX, Canada) and MasterView (ver. 1.1, AB SCIEX, Canada). Compounds were identified by Natural Products HR-MSMS Spectral Library (ver. 1.0.1, AB SCIEX, USA). Mass tolerance of the accurate molecular weight was set as ± 5 ppm. Furthermore, MS/MS fragment patterns were analyzed to verify the results.
In Silico docking
Structures of potential topo I inhibitors from ASH were saved in Mol format. PDB code of Human DNA Topoisomerase I was 1T8I. Docking was performed by Discovery Studio (BIOVIA). Original ligands and water were removed from the complex, and that hydrogen atoms were added. Proteins were refined with CHARMm force field. Active binding sites were Arg 488, Lys 532, Arg 590, His 632, and Tyr 723 according to the literature [
33]. Pose cluster radius was set at 0.5 and the other parameters were at the default values. Scores of -CDOCKER interaction energy were investigated, and that camptothecin was used as control.
Construction and analysis of multiple complex networks
To explore the underlying mechanisms, multiple complex networks were build based on the selected topo I inhibitors from ASH, their target proteins and involved pathways. Targets were predicted by Similarity ensemble approach (SEA) (
https://sea.bkslab.org/) [
34], on basis of set-wise chemical similarity among proteins and their ligands. UniProt IDs of these proteins were collected for information standardization. The involved pathways were analyzed by DAVID (
https://david.ncifcrf.gov/,
P < 0.05). Multiple complex networks were then built, consisted of large amounts of nodes and edges. Nodes represent the topo I inhibitors, related target proteins or involved pathways, and that edges exhibit interactions between them. The networks were visualized using Pajek (ver. 5.16, by Andrej Mrvar and Vladimir Batagelj).
First, an ingredient-pathway interaction (IPI) network was constructed. If targets of an inhibitor node i were involved in pathway node j, there is a connection between i and j. Besides, if two inhibitors nodes i1, i2 had common targets, or a target is both involved in pathway nodes j1, j2, a connection emerges between them. Then, three subnetworks were extracted from IPI network for different interpretations, including the ingredient-ingredient interaction (TTI) network, ingredient-pathway bimodal (IPB) network, and pathway-pathway interaction (PPI) network. TTI network describes interactions between inhibitors connected with identical targets. IPB network exhibits connections between the inhibitors and pathways possessing common targets. Besides, the PPI network characterizes relationships between pathways involved identical targets.
The network characteristics were calculated to screen critical nodes, using MATLAB 2016a (The MathWorks Inc.). Most parameters have been described in our previous work [
35], including degree (
k), the average degree
< k>, degree distribution
P(k), diameter (
D), average path length (
L), clustering coefficient (
C), and three centrality indicators, degree centrality (
Cd), betweenness centrality (
Cb), and closeness centrality (
Cc). Part of these parameters and their formulas were listed in Table
2.
Topo I inhibitory binding assay
Inhibition of topo I for ASH extract and the selected ingredients was tested by agarose gel electrophoresis. The reaction mixtures contained plasmid pBR322 (0.175 µg), the samples (dissolved in DMSO), topo I (0.5 U), diluted Topo I buffer (6×, 2 µL), BSA (0.1%, 2 µL). Camptothecin was applied as positive control. The mixtures were incubated at 37 °C for half an hour. Electrophoresis was conducted on 1% agarose gel (150 V, 30 min). The gels were dyed in 4 S Green Plus nucleic acid stain (10,000X) for 30 min and discolored for another 30 min, then visualized using a G:BOX Chemi XRQ gel imaging system (Syngene, Germany).
Discussion
Some previous researches have explored antitumor effect of
Artemisiae Scopariae Herba. They often focused on of specific constituents or pathways. For example, Prasad et al. reported that cirsiliol suppressed epithelial to mesenchymal transition in B16F10 malignant melanoma cells through alteration of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway [
49]. Hyperoside was found to inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in microglial cells via p38 and NFκB pathways [
50]. A comprehensive and detailed analysis of bioactive ingredients in ASH extract is still needed. In this study, interdisciplinary methods were integrated as an extensive approach, including bioaffinity ultrafiltration-UFLC-ESI-Q/TOF-MS/MS,
in silico docking and multiple complex networks. First, the application of ultrafiltration LC-MS could facilitate the separation of ligands binding to target proteins from natural products [
51]. On the other hand, the specific binding sites of protein residues or functional groups of natural products were clarified by
in silico docking, which determine the topo I inhibitory activity [
18]. Finally, complex network methodology was used to explore the underlying mechanisms, with a significant potential for extracting key biological information from large amounts of data [
52]. Combination of these methods enabled to get an overall understanding of topo I inhibitors in ASH extract from a system perspective, containing main active ingredients, target proteins and critical pathways. However, further studies on cell and animal models are needed to verify these results.
Currently, natural topo I inhibitors used in clinical treatment of tumors are mainly originated from camptothecin and its derivatives, including topotecan against ovarian and cervical cancers, irinotecan against colorectal and pancreatic cancers, as well as belotecan, widely used against small cell-lung cancer [
18]. The present results of ASH could provide another potential alternative to the development of clinical anticancer drugs. Besides, drug combinations of topo I inhibitors and other biologically active compounds is the other key issue [
17]. It was reported that camptothecin complexed with the polymer doxorubicin had synergistic antitumor activity, and increased the drug accumulation in tumors [
53]. A similar synergistic effect of isorhamnetin and quercetin was also observed in this study. Nevertheless, more pharmacological researches are essential to solving the puzzle. We hope that further evidence-based clinical studies focused on ASH and ASH-derived bioactive ingredients could open new avenues to tumor therapy.
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