Baicalein exerts an anti-tumor role through AKT/Survivin signaling pathway in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Background: Recently, baicalein has been shown to influence tumor progression by affecting cell growth, apoptosis, autophagy, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), et al. However, the application of baicalein in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) has not been reported. Methods: Bioinformatics methods were used to obtain the main targets of baicalein. The ccRCC targets were acquired through transcriptome sequencing datasets. The core targets of drug interaction with ccRCC were further gained through protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. The main cells of the core targets were identified by single-cell analysis. Results: By constructing the PPI network, 49 core drug-disease interaction targets were obtained. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis showed significant enrichment of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and apoptosis pathway. The results of CCK8 assay and colony formation assay revealed that baicalein could inhibit the proliferation of ccRCC cells in a dose-dependent manner. The results of wound healing and transwell assay indicated that baicalein could inhibit the migration of ccRCC cells. Flow cytometry verified that baicalein could promote apoptosis of ccRCC cells. Finally, western blot assay confirmed that baicalein could affect the tumorigenesis by regulating the expression of AKT/p-AKT expression. Conclusions: Our experiments demonstrated that baicalein could affect the apoptosis of ccRCC cells through AKT/p-AKT/Survivin pathway, and regulate the EMT process through the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and Vimentine. Baicalein was a traditional Chinese herbal monomer which can effectively inhibit the progression of ccRCC.