Anti-cancer components from Traditional Chinese Medicine and its mechanism

<b><i>Traditional Chinese medicine</i></b><b>（</b><b><i>TCM</i></b><b>）</b><b> was a valuable resource for discovering new medicines because of its long history and diversity. Based on the cells experiments of A549 and HepG2 <i>in vitro</i>, 31 active compounds were obtained from <i>TCM</i> through the solvent-chromatographic system. Analyzed by the key compound-target-pathway network(contained 28 compounds, 52 targets and 25 pathways), we found that <i>TCM</i> played an anti-cancer efficacy through the multi-interactions of components, targets and pathways. Furthermore, combined with the mice experiments of Lewis and H22 <i>in vivo</i>, we found that 5 compounds had the effect of inhibiting the growth of Lewis cancer, and 3 can inhibit the growth of H22 cancer, meaningfully, as an inhibitor of the estradiol-17β dehydrogenase, the ergosterol from <i>Cordyceps militaris</i> specifically inhibited the growth of A549 cells through regulating the oxidation of estradiol to estrone. Finally, that may provide an important target to treat anti lung cancer.</b>