Uncovering the anti-angiogenic effect of semisynthetic triterpenoid CDDO-Im on HUVECs by an integrated network pharmacology approach

Abstract Aim To reveal the molecular mechanism of anti-angiogenic activity of semisynthetic triterpenoid CDDO-Im. Materials and methods Using re-analysis of cDNA microarray data of CDDO-Im-treated human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) (GSE71622), functional annotation of revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and analysis of their co-expression, the key processes induced by CDDO-Im in HUVECs were identified. Venn diagram analysis was further performed to reveal the common DEGs, i.e. genes both susceptible to CDDO-Im and involved in the regulation of angiogenesis. A list of probable protein targets of CDDO-Im was prepared based on Connectivity Map/cheminformatics analysis and chemical proteomics data, among which the proteins that were most associated with the angiogenesis-related regulome were identified. Finally, identified targets were validated by molecular docking and text mining approaches. Key findings The effect of CDDO-Im in HUVECs can be divided into two main phases: the short early phase (0.5–3 h) with an acute FOXD1/CEBPA/JUNB-regulated pro-angiogenic response induced by xenobiotic stress, and the second anti-angiogenic step (6–24 h) with massive suppression of various angiogenesis-related processes, accompanied by the activation of cytoprotective mechanisms. Our analysis showed that the anti-angiogenic activity of CDDO-Im is mediated by its inhibition of the expression of PLAT, ETS1, A2M, SPAG9, RASGRP3, FBXO32, GCNT1 and HDGFRP3 and its direct interactions with EGFR, mTOR, NOS2, HSP90AA1, MDM2, SYK, IRF3, ATR and KIF14. Significance Our findings provide valuable insights into the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the anti-angiogenic activity of cyano enone-bearing triterpenoids and revealed a range of novel promising therapeutic targets to control pathological neovascularization.