Evaluating the Impact of Piperine Receptors on Prostate Cancer Through Computer-Aided Drug Designing

Piperine is the primary active ingredient of Piper nigrum, which has a wide range of pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory and immune-regulating effects. In the previous study, the KEGG pathway of the targets and the genes SP1, RELA, NFKB1, TP53, STAT3, and JUN were enriched and examined using the Metascape database platform, which intended to the preliminary investigation. Further, the aforementioned targets were contrasted and examined to determine the piperine anti-prostate cancer targets. In the current study, network pharmacology and molecular docking study were used for further investigations, and this is particularly effective and flexible in the targets prediction. The top 3 hub targets (STAT3, JUN, and TP53) were discovered based on cytoHubba degree parameter and KEGG pathway analysis. STAT3 showed a high binding affinity of (− 8.6 kcal/mol), as compared to other top hub genes, as well as the standard compound cabazitaxel (− 7.1 kcal/mol). Based on the molecular interaction, STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) may be a possible target of piperine, which was found by the network pharmacological method to prevent prostate cancer.