Biological evaluation and molecular docking of Rhein as a multi-targeted radiotherapy sensitization agent of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

In this work, the probability of Rhein to be a multi-target radiotherapy sensitization agent was explored through computer aid virtual screening by inverse docking study and biological activity determination. Computational and experimental results indicated that radiotherapy sensitization mediated by Rhein was probably not by effecting on one single target, but simultaneously by targeting the node proteins of RAC1, EGFR and HSP90, which implied that these proteins may be the checkpoint targets of NPC CNE1 cells in the radiotherapy process, it also suggested that Rhein was a promising multi-target agent in regulating the sensitivity of NPC CNE1 cells to radiation. More importantly, this research provided a tactics for design of multi-targeted radiotherapy sensitization agents.119