Investigating the potential mechanisms of Litsea cubeba essential oil for anti-melanoma through experimental validation, network pharmacology, and molecular docking analysis

Abstract Objectives Melanoma remains a challenge due to the lack of effective and low-toxicity treatments. Litsea cubeba essential oil (LEO), known for its tyrosinase inhibitory activity, has shown promise as an anti-melanoma compound, although robust scientific evidence is lacking. Methods We conducted GC-MS analysis to identify the major components of LEO and screened for effective components were further evaluated on A375 and HaCaT cells using the CCK-8 assay. Network pharmacology was employed to predict potential targets using PharmMapper and SwissTarget Prediction databases, with melanoma-related targets sourced from the GeneCards database. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was created using STRING and Cytoscape. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed through the DAVI database. Additionally, we constructed a natural product-main components-core targets-pathways-disease (NMCPD) network in Cytoscape and conducted molecular docking using PyMOL and Autodock Vina. Results GC-MS analysis revealed neral ( cis -citral) and geranial ( trans -citral) as the primary active components of LEO. Cell assays demonstrated that a citral mixture, in combination with LEO, effectively inhibited A375 cell growth with IC 50 values of 35.94 ± 1.23 μM and 12.00 ± 0.96 μg/mL, while exhibiting minimal toxicity to HaCaT cells with IC 50 values of 67.72 ± 2.96 μM and 22.32 ± 2.53 μg/mL. Screening identified10 hub targets among 190 common targets between drug and disease-related targets. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis suggested therapeutic effects of citral on melanoma by modulating signaling pathways. Molecular docking revealed strong binding affinity of neral and geranial with RXRA and ESR1, suggesting that citral, the principal LEO component, regulates multiple pathways for potential melanoma therapy. Conclusions These findings support the potential utility of LEO as a treatment for melanoma and highlight the importance of exploring tyrosinase inhibitors for the development of novel anti-melanoma drugs.