Skin cancer, particularly melanoma, remains a major public health concern due to its high mortality rate. Current treatment options, including chemotherapy with dacarbazine and doxorubicin, have shown limited efficacy, achieving only a 20% objective response rate over six months, along with severe side effects such as cardiotoxicity. Given these limitations, there is a growing interest in herbal medicine as a source of novel anticancer compounds. Bambusa stenostachya, a bamboo species native to Taiwan, was investigated for its potential anti-melanoma properties using network pharmacology and molecular docking. LC-MS analysis identified seven bioactive compounds, including quinic acid and isovitexin, which satisfied Lipinski’s drug-likeness criteria. Among the seven bioactive compounds identified, five belong to the flavonoid family, while two are classified as phenolic compounds that modulate signaling pathways related to cancer and exhibit antioxidant activity, respectively. Through pathway enrichment analysis, four key melanoma-associated genes (PIM1, MEK1, CDK2, and PDK1) were identified as potential therapeutic targets. Ensemble docking results demonstrated that naringin-7-rhamnoglucoside exhibited the highest binding affinity (−6.30 kcal/mol) with phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1, surpassing the affinities of standard chemotherapeutic agents. Additionally, the average docking scores for naringin-7-rhamnoglucoside and the remaining three proteins were as follows: PIM1 (−5.92), MEK1 (−6.07), and CDK2 (−5.26). These findings suggest that the bioactive compounds in B. stenostachya may play a crucial role in inhibiting melanoma progression by modulating metabolic and signaling pathways. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are necessary to validate these computational findings and explore the potential of B. stenostachya as a complementary therapeutic agent for melanoma.

Dyspepsia or indigestion is known to be a symptom of several gastrointestinal issues including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and gastric cancer. With the ever-increasing popularity of traditional herbal medicines, the research selected rosemary, or Salvia rosmarinus, due to its historical ethnopharmacological applications and ease of cultivation. Potential targets of molecules from S. rosmarinus are explored for the molecular pathogenesis of functional dyspepsia. Through a network pharmacology approach, it has been shown that there is a significant interaction between the disease and the plant’s compounds. The pathways involving the target genes of S. rosmarinus that are related to functional dyspepsia were revealed to be implicated in the development of certain diseases like gastric cancer and fibrosis which are both precursors to dyspepsia. Moreover, through molecular docking, the results of the pathway analyses were computationally validated indicating that the compound luteolin has the most significant interaction against dyspepsia-related genes. It effectively promotes apoptosis in cancer pathways, reducing the chances of gastric cancer carcinogenesis. To further validate these findings, molecular dynamics simulation was performed to compare the stability and binding behavior of the top-performing compound against the reference compound. The results of this study could be a possible basis in developing pharmaceuticals against gastrointestinal diseases, specifically, dyspepsia.