(819) The potential application of bioflavonoids in cancer treatment

Introduction/Rationale: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The 5-year survival rate of HCC is very low at advanced stages. No effective treatments are available for advanced HCC. Therefore, new therapeutic drugs and treatment methods for HCC remain to be developed. This study aims to investigate the role of bioflavonoids in HCC treatment.

Methods: Bioinformatic tools and computer-aided techniques advance the processes of drug development. Here, we incorporated bioinformatic analyses and computer-aided drug development processes to investigate the potential application of bioflavonoids as a therapeutic agent for HCC treatment.

Results: Our results revealed that predicted hub target genes of bioflavonoids displayed functional importance in cancer-related signaling pathways in different cancers, including HCC. Importantly, the mRNA expression levels of the key hub genes, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, were significantly different between normal and HCC tumor samples. Their expression levels were significantly associated with the clinical survival outcomes of HCC patients, as well as the immune cell infiltration in the HCC tumor microenvironment. In addition, these four genes showed significant co-expression correlated with immune checkpoints, including PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4. Furthermore, we investigated the binding affinity and potential binding mechanisms between bioflavonoids and target proteins encoded by the hub genes.

Conclusion: This study shed light on the potential application of bioactive molecule bioflavonoids in HCC treatment by regulating four key hub genes.