Kakuol and asarinin protecting liver injury via HSP90AA1/CDK2/mTOR signaling pathway.

Drug-induced liver injury caused acute hepatic failure and hepatitis frequently. In this investigation, kakuol and asarinin reduced the levels of serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and malondialdehyde (MDA) dramatically, and ameliorated the pathological damage of liver tissues in APAP-induced mice. Furthermore, both compounds increased the viabilities of APAP-induced L-O2 cells and extracellular glutathione (GSH) levels accompanied significantly by reducing the level of intracellular ROS in vitro. In addition, HSP90AA1/CDK2/mTOR signaling pathway and five target proteins (CDK2, HSP90AA1, HRAS, MMP1, mTOR) were proposed from network pharmacology and molecular docking prediction, and then the up-regulation of protein expression of CDK2, mTOR and down-regulation of HSP90AA1, HRAS, MMP1 by kakuol and asarinin in western blotting supported their mechanism.