Background:
Paeoniflorin (PF) is the main active component of Chinese herbaceous peony that has been shown to have an anti-
tumor effect. However, there are few studies on the prevention and treatment of
pancreatic cancer with PF. Methods: We gathered Microarray data pertaining to
paeoniflorin intervention in
pancreatic cancer by utilizing the GEO database (GSE97124). Then, the DEGs were filtered by the 33R program.
RNA-seq data of
pancreatic cancer and normal tissue samples were taken from the TCGA and GTEx databases, respectively, and the WGCNA technique was utilized to examine the
pancreatic cancer-specific genes.
Paeoniflorin target genes for the treatment of
pancreatic cancer were determined based on the overlap between DEGs and WGCNA. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were then performed on
paeoniflorin target genes to discover which biological processes were impacted. Using the 3 hierarchical methods included in the Cytohubba plugin, we re-screened the hub genes in the target genes to find the genes most relevant to
paeoniflorin treatment. The overall survival effects of hub genes were confirmed using the TCGA database. Finally, the
paeoniflorin targets identified by the network pharmacology analysis were validated using PANC-1 and Capan-2 cells. Results: We identified 148 main potential PF targets, and gene enrichment analysis suggested that the aforementioned targets play a crucial role in the regulation of MAPK, PI3K-AKT, and other pathways. The further screening of the prospective targets resulted in the identification of 39 hub genes. Using the TCGA database, it was determined that around 33.33% of the hub gene's high expression was linked with a bad prognosis. Finally, we demonstrated that PF inhibits
IL-6 and
IL-10 expression and p38 phosphorylation in
pancreatic cancer cells, thereby reducing
inflammation. Conclusion: PF may regulate inflammatory factors mainly through the
p38 MAPK signal pathway. These findings provide theoretical and experimental evidence suggesting the PF as a promising natural source of anti-
tumor compounds for
pancreatic cancer.