An RNA-seq transcriptome analysis for investigating the anti-lung cancer activity of medicinal Cuscuta chinensis Lam plant.

Cuscuta chinensis Lam. is a traditional medicinal herb used to treat female sterility, and male reproductive system disorders. However, the anti-lung cancer properties of Cuscuta chinensis Lam., and possible molecular mechanisms have yet to be explored. Thus, the study's main purpose was to evaluate in vitro and in vivo anti-lung cancer properties of C. chinensis water extract (CLW) in human lung adenocarcinomas and the underlying molecular mechanism involved. Our results demonstrated that CLW caused a significant inhibition of cell viability and induced G1 cycle arrest in lung cancer cells to a level that is relative to that of normal epithelial cells. Furthermore, RNA-seq transcriptome analysis revealed 602 common genes with a significant expression in A549 and H1650 cells under CLW treatment. Functional enrichment analysis based on Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) suggested that these common genes regulated by CLW mainly involving lung cancer cell proliferation, metastases and apoptosis processes. In addition, 46 common genes (>2-fold change) which regulated by CLW in A549 and H1650 cells were selected for further validation. In vitro qRT-PCR results confirmed that 12 genes (FOSB, HMOX1, EGR1, TM4SF19-TCTEX1D2, MARCH4, DUSP6, SPRY2, C11orf96, FGFBP1, NPTX1, LINC00707, and HES7) were up-regulated, and 4 genes (TNFSF10, GBP4, MAP2K6 and, STARD4-AS1) were down-regulated in A549 and H1650 adenocarcinoma cell lines. The in vivo experiment demonstrated CLW could significantly decrease tumor volume and tumor weight of mice compared with the control group. However, CLW treatment has no effect on body weight of mice. Moreover, in vivo qRT-PCR results revealed that 4 genes (C11orf96, FGFBP1, FOSB, and NPTX1) were up-regulated, and 3 genes (EGR1, GBP4, and MAP2K6) were down-regulated in tumor tissues compared with the control group. These data strongly suggest that CLW could be developed as an efficacious drug for lung cancer treatment.