Anti-cancer components from Traditional Chinese Medicine and its mechanism

Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） was a valuable resource for discovering new medicines because of its long history and diversity. Based on the cells experiments of A549 and HepG2 in vitro, 31 active compounds were obtained from TCM through the solvent-chromatographic system. Analyzed by the key compound-target-pathway network(contained 28 compounds, 52 targets and 25 pathways), we found that TCM played an anti-cancer efficacy through the multi-interactions of components, targets and pathways. Furthermore, combined with the mice experiments of Lewis and H22 in vivo, 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 Cordyceps militaris 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.