Combined Gene Expression Study Leads to Potential Herbal Targets in Breast Cancer and Diabetes

Background/Objectives: Diabetes and cancer are common diseases, and epidemiologic evidence suggests that people with diabetes are at significantly higher risk for many forms of cancer. Both these diseases are among the highly complex, heterogeneous, and robust. Transcriptional dysregulation and abnormal signaling are major contributors to disease heterogeneity, posing challenges for therapeutic development. These days, herbal compounds are also used for the diagnostic purpose for many diseases, including diabetes and cancer. Materials and Methods: Here, to understand the common genes and the commonly enriched functions (pathways) between the two diseases and to unravel the potential herbal targets, we have studied the publicly available gene expression datasets (diabetes and cancer) and performed docking for the protein structure of the common 31 genes against the herbal compound of our interest—apigenin, quercetin, and resveratrol. Results: We identified 31 common differentially expressed genes and 14 enriched pathways, including insulin and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-protein kinase B signaling, critical to both diseases. Conclusion: Molecular docking revealed eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5B, DEAH-box helicase 16, integrin beta 7, and O-GlcNAc transferase as high-affinity targets for apigenin, quercetin, and resveratrol, with favorable absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion properties (e.g., no Lipinski violations).