A database of integrated molecular and phytochemical interactions of the foxm1 pathway for lung cancer

Abstract

The FoxM1 pathway is an oncogenic signaling pathway involved in essential mechanisms including control cell-cycle progression, apoptosis and cell growth which are the common hallmarks of various cancers. Although its biological functions in the tumor development and progression are known, the mechanism by which it participates in those processes is not understood. The present work reveals images of the oncogenic FoxM1 pathway controlling the cell cycle process with alternative treatment options via phytochemical substances in the lung cancer study. The downstream significant protein modules of the FoxM1 pathway were extracted by the Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) and the maximal clique (Mclique) algorithms. Furthermore, the effects of post-transcriptional modification by microRNA, transcription factor binding and the phytochemical compounds are observed through their interactions with the lung cancer protein modules. We provided two case studies to demonstrate the usefulness of our database. Our results suggested that the combination of various phytochemicals is effective in the treatment of lung cancer. The ultimate goal of the present work is to partly support the discovery of plant-derived compounds in combination treatment of classical chemotherapeutic agents to increase the efficacy of lung cancer method probably with minor side effects. Furthermore, a web-based system displaying results of the present work is set up for investigators posing queries at http://sit.mfu.ac.th/lcgdb/index_FoxM1.php.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Keywords:

• FoxM1
• lung cancer
• medicinal plants
• phytochemicals
• protein interaction network
• protein module
• MCODE
• maximal clique
• microRNA
• transcription factor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work of Nilubon Kurubanjerdjit was supported by Mae Fah Luang University for the high-performance facilities and laboratory equipment. The work of Ka-Lok Ng was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), under the grant MOST 108-2221-E-468-020. Ka-Lok Ng’s work is also supported by Asia University, under the grants 107-asia-02 and 107-asia-09. Our gratitude also goes to Michael Burton, Asia University, proofreading the manuscript.