Luteolin Potentially Treating Prostate Cancer and COVID-19 Analyzed by the Bioinformatics Approach: Clinical Findings and Drug Targets

Yu Ye; Ziyan Huang; Manying Chen; Yongfeng Mo; Zengnan Mo

doi:10.3389/fendo.2021.802447

Luteolin Potentially Treating Prostate Cancer and COVID-19 Analyzed by the Bioinformatics Approach: Clinical Findings and Drug Targets

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Feb 1:12:802447. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.802447. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yu Ye¹, Ziyan Huang², Manying Chen^{3

4}, Yongfeng Mo^{3

4}, Zengnan Mo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
² Health Management Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
³ Center for Genomic and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious epidemic, characterized by potential mutation and can bring about poor vaccine efficiency. It is evidenced that patients with malignancies, including prostate cancer (PC), may be highly vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Currently, there are no existing drugs that can cure PC and COVID-19. Luteolin can potentially be employed for COVID-19 treatment and serve as a potent anticancer agent. Our present study was conducted to discover the possible drug target and curative mechanism of luteolin to serve as treatment for PC and COVID-19. The differential gene expression of PC cases was determined via RNA sequencing. The application of network pharmacology and molecular docking aimed to exhibit the drug targets and pharmacological mechanisms of luteolin. In this study, we found the top 20 up- and downregulated gene expressions in PC patients. Enrichment data demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects, where improvement of metabolism and enhancement of immunity were the main functions and mechanism of luteolin in treating PC and COVID-19, characterized by associated signaling pathways. Additional core drug targets, including MPO and FOS genes, were computationally identified accordingly. In conclusion, luteolin may be a promising treatment for PC and COVID-19 based on bioinformatics findings, prior to future clinical validation and application.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinical feature; drug target; luteolin; mechanism; prostate cancer.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / pathology
COVID-19 Drug Treatment*
Computational Biology / methods
Drug Discovery / methods*
High-Throughput Screening Assays / methods
Humans
Luteolin / pharmacology
Luteolin / therapeutic use*
Male
Metabolic Networks and Pathways / drug effects
Models, Molecular
Molecular Docking Simulation
Molecular Targeted Therapy / methods
Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
Protein Interaction Maps / drug effects
Protein Interaction Maps / physiology
SARS-CoV-2 / drug effects
SARS-CoV-2 / physiology

Substances

Luteolin