Tanshinone IIA affects the malignant growth of Cholangiocarcinoma cells by inhibiting the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway

In the present study, we aimed to find the target of Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) in Cholangiocarcinoma by network pharmacology-based prediction and investigate the possible mechanism through experimental verification. In this study, we combined Tan-IIA-specific and Cholangiocarcinoma-specific targets with protein–protein interactions (PPI) to construct a Tan-IIA targets-Cholangiocarcinoma network, and network pharmacology approach was applied to identify potential targets and mechanisms of Tan-IIA in the treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma. The anti-cancer effects of Tan-IIA were investigated by using subcutaneous tumorigenic model in nude mice and in the human Cholangiocarcinoma cell lines in vitro. Our results showed that Tan-IIA treatment considerably suppressed the proliferation and migration of Cholangiocarcinoma cells while inducing apoptosis of Cholangiocarcinoma cells. Western blot results demonstrated that the expression of PI3K, p-Akt, p-mTOR, and mTOR were inhibited by Tan-IIA. Meanwhile, After treatment with Tan-IIA, the level of Bcl2 was downregulated and cleaved caspase-3 expression increased. Further studies revealed that the anticancer effects of Tan-IIA were severely mitigated by pretreatment with a PI3K agonist. Our research provides a new anticancer strategy and strengthens support for the use of Tan-IIA as an anticancer drug for the treatment of CCA.