In-Vitro and in-Silico characterization of Sophora interrupta plant extract as an anticancer activity

Cheminformatics-based identification of phosphorylated RET tyrosine kinase inhibitors for human cancer

Background

Rearranged during transfection (RET), an oncogenic protein, is associated with various cancers, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. Dysregulation of RET contributes to cancer development, highlighting the importance of identifying lead compounds targeting this protein due to its pivotal role in cancer progression. Therefore, this study aims to discover effective lead compounds targeting RET across different cancer types and evaluate their potential to inhibit cancer progression.

Methods

This study used a range of computational techniques, including Phase database creation, high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS), molecular docking, molecular mechanics with generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) solvation, assessment of pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, to identify potential lead compounds targeting RET.

Results

Initially, a high-throughput virtual screening of the ZINC database identified 2,550 compounds from a pool of 170,269. Subsequent molecular docking studies revealed 10 compounds with promising negative binding scores ranging from -8.458 to -7.791 kcal/mol. MM-GBSA analysis further confirmed the potential of four compounds to exhibit negative binding scores. MD simulations demonstrated the stability of CID 95842900, CID 137030374, CID 124958150, and CID 110126793 with the target receptors.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that these selected four compounds have the potential to inhibit phosphorylated RET (pRET) tyrosine kinase activity and may represent promising candidates for the treatment of various cancers.

Improvement and enhancement of oligosaccharide production from Lactobacillus acidophilus using statistical experimental designs and its inhibitory effect on colon cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third cause of death by cancers worldwide and is one of the most common cancer types reported in both Egypt and the United States. The use of probiotics as a dietary therapy is increasing either as a prevention or as a treatment for many diseases, particularly, in the case of CRC. The increasing acceptance of lactic acid bacterial (LAB) oligosaccharides as bioactive agents has led to an increase in the demand for the large-scale production of LAB-oligosaccharides using fermentation technology. Therefore, in the current study, we are using the Plackett- Burman design (PBD) approach, where sixteen experimental trials were applied to optimize the production of the target oligosaccharide LA-EPS-20079 from Lactobacillus acidophilus. Glucose, yeast extract and sodium acetate trihydrate were the top three significant variables influencing LA-EPS production. The maximum concentration of LA-EPS-20079 achieved by L. acidophilus was 526.79 μg/ml. Furthermore, Box-Behnken design (BBD) as response surface methodology (RSM) was used to complete the optimization procedure. The optimal levels of the chosen variables which were 30.0 g/l, glucose; 5 g/l, yeast extract and 10.0 g/l sodium acetate trihydrate with the predicted LA-EPS-20079 concentration of 794.82 μg/ml. Model validity reached 99.93% when the results were verified. Both optimized trials showed great cytotoxic effects against colon cancer line (CaCo-2) with inhibition percentages ranging from 64.6 to 81.9%. Moreover, downregulation in the expression level of BCL2 and Survivin genes was found with a fold change of 3.377 and 21.38, respectively. Finally, we concluded that the optimized LA-EPS-20079 has maintained its anticancer effect against the CaCo-2 cell line that was previously reported by our research group.

Inhibition of DDX3 and COX-2 by forskolin and evaluation of anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic effects on cervical cancer cells: molecular modelling and in vitro approaches

Several studies have reported up-regulation of both cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and DEAD-box RNA helicase3 (DDX3) and have validated their oncogenic role in many cancers. Inhibition of COX-2 and DDX3 offers a potential pharmacological strategy for prevention of cancer progression. The COX-2 isoform is expressed in response to pro-inflammatory stimuli in premalignant lesions, including cervical tissues. This study elucidates the potential role of plant derived compound Forskolin (FSK) in plummeting the expression of COX-2 and DDX3 in cervical cancer. To establish this, the cervical cancer cells were treated with the FSK compound which induced a dose dependent significant inhibition of COX-2 and DDX3 expression. The FSK treatment also significantly induced apoptosis in cancer cells by modulating the expression of apoptotic markers like caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, caspase-9, cleaved caspase-9, full length-poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), cleaved-poly ADP ribose polymerase (C-PARP) and Bcl2 in dose dependent manner. Further FSK significantly modulated the cell survival pathway Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K)/Akt signalling pathway upon 24 h of incubation in cervical cancer cells. The molecular docking studies revealed that the FSK engaged the active sites of both the targets by interacting with key residues.

Review On Documented Medicinal Plants Used For The Treatment Of Cancer

Background:

Cancer is a frightful disease and it is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Naturally derived compounds are gaining interest of research workers as they have less toxic side effects as compared to currently used treatments such as chemotherapy. Plants are the pool of chemical compounds which provides a promising future for research on cancer.

Objective:

This review paper provides updated information gathered on medicinal plants and isolated phytoconstituents used as anticancer agents and summarises the plant extracts and their isolated chemical constituents exhibiting anticancer potential on clinical trials.

Methods:

An extensive bibliographic investigation was carried out by analysing worldwide established scientific databases like SCOPUS, PUBMED, SCIELO, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Web of Science, Wiley, SciFinder and Google Scholar etc. In next few decades, herbal medicine may become a new epoch of medical system.

Results:

Many researches are going on medicinal plants for the treatment of cancer but it is a time to increase further experimental studies on plant extracts and their chemical constituents to find out their mechanism of action at molecular level.

Conclusion:

The article may help many researchers to start off further experimentation that might lead to the drugs for the cancer treatment.

Isolation, Biological Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Studies of Compounds from Sophora mollis (Royle) Graham Ex Baker

The Sophora mollis is one of the best anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancerous plant; therefore, the isolated chemical constituents, that is, scopoletin (1), pinitol (2), 2-propenoic acid, 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-octacosyl ester (3), betulin (4), and β-sitosterol glucoside (5) were tested for these folklores. The structures of the isolated compounds were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 2D-NMR, and mass spectral data. The anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiglycation, and antioxidant activities of compounds 1-5 were evaluated using different assays. Compound 1 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory effect as it reduced edema of the paw (83.98%), which is more potent than the standard drug (ibuprofen) (which showed an inhibition percentage of 73.22% a), followed by compound 3. Furthermore, compound 3 showed significant free-radical scavenging activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) free-radical assay. Percentage inhibition of DPPH recorded was 95.646 ± 0.003, 94.766 ± 0.014, and 94.516 ± 0.011% at concentrations of 400, 200, and 100 μg/mL, respectively. Evaluation of anticancer activity of isolated compounds reveals weak effect against HeLa and 3T3 cell lines. Docking studies of the most active compound into the binding sites of cyclooxygenase isoforms showed a better antagonistic potential against COX-1 than the COX-2 isoform.

Modulation of Bax and Bcl-2 genes by secondary metabolites produced by Penicillium rubens JGIPR9 causes the apoptosis of cancer cell lines

Search for an efficient anti-cancer compound of natural origin with well-defined mechanisms of action is an important scientific pursuit today, due to cancer being the second leading cause for the death of affected people. The members of the genus Penicillium are one of the important sources of bioactive compounds. In the present study, Penicillium rubens, isolated from a garden soil in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, was found to produce a highly promising anti-cancer metabolite. The percentage viabilities of HepG2, HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells treated with the bioactive fraction (P5) isolated from P. rubens, ranged between 40-50% after 96 h. Apoptosis induction was found to be the major reason for the observed reduction in cancer cell proliferation and cell count which was confirmed by caspase activity, DNA fragmentation, clonogenic assay, cell cycle analysis and LDH assays. The upregulation of proapoptotic Bax, coupled with the downregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expressions were confirmed by RT-qPCR and flow cytometry methods. The current study also indicated an upregulation of p53 which further strengthened the apoptogenic property of P5 fraction. Non-toxicity of P5 was demonstrated on normal peripheral lymphocytes. The analysis of P5 fraction through GC-MS indicated the presence of indole-2, 3-(4,4-dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone) as one of the major compounds.

In vitro and in silico characterization of angiogenic inhibitors from Sophora interrupta

Sophora interrupta Bedd, (Fabaceae) is used in Indian folk medicine to treat cancer. Angiogenesis is one of the crucial characteristics of cancer metastasis and is regulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this study, we examined the antiangiogenic properties of the root ethyl acetate extract of Sophora interrupta by various methods. In vitro antioxidant activity (100-600 μg/ml) of S. interrupta ethyl acetate (SEA) extract was evaluated by DPPH and ABTS, anti-inflammatory activity (50, 100 and 150 μg/ml) by estimating nitric oxide (NO) levels, anti-angiogenic activity (200 and 500 μg/ml) was validated by chorio allantoic membrane (CAM) assay and in silico molecular dynamic (MD) simulations analyses (25 ns) were performed to identify the anti-angiogenic compounds extracted from root extract. The antioxidative activity of SEA extract at IC₅₀ (200 ± 0.6 μg/mL) is equal to that of ascorbic acid at IC₅₀ (50 ± 0.6 μg/mL), and the anti-inflammatory activity of SEA extract at IC₅₀ (150 ± 0.2 μg/mL) was inhibited significantly by nitric oxide (NO) production. The SEA extract significantly reduced the sprouting of new blood vessels at ID₅₀ 500 ± 0.13 μg/mL in the CAM assay. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the SEA extract detected 34 secondary metabolites, of which 6a,12a-dihydro-6H-(1,3)dioxolo(5,6)benzofuro(3,2-c)chromen-3-ol (maackiain) and funiculosin formed strong hydrogen bond interactions with Lys 920, Thr 916 and Cys 919 (2H), as well as Glu 917 of VEGFR2, and these interactions were similar to those of the anti-angiogenic compound axitinib. Significant findings in all the assays performed indicate that SEA extract has potential anti-angiogenic compounds that may interfere with VEGF-induced cancer malignancy.

Analog sensitive chemical inhibition of the DEAD-box protein DDX3

Proper maintenance of RNA structure and dynamics is essential to maintain cellular health. Multiple families of RNA chaperones exist in cells to modulate RNA structure, RNA-protein complexes, and RNA granules. The largest of these families is the DEAD-box proteins, named after their catalytic Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp motif. The human DEAD-box protein DDX3 is implicated in diverse biological processes including translation initiation and is mutated in numerous cancers. Like many DEAD-box proteins, DDX3 is essential to cellular health and exhibits dosage sensitivity, such that both decreases and increases in protein levels can be lethal. Therefore, chemical inhibition would be an ideal tool to probe the function of DDX3. However, most DEAD-box protein active sites are extremely similar, complicating the design of specific inhibitors. Here, we show that a chemical genetic approach best characterized in protein kinases, known as analog-sensitive chemical inhibition, is viable for DDX3 and possibly other DEAD-box proteins. We present an expanded active-site mutant that is tolerated in vitro and in vivo, and is sensitive to chemical inhibition by a novel bulky inhibitor. Our results highlight a course towards analog sensitive chemical inhibition of DDX3 and potentially the entire DEAD-box protein family.

Isolation and Characterization of the Anticancer Compound Piceatannol from Sophora Interrupta Bedd

BACKGROUND

Sophora belongs to the family of Fabaceae and the species in this genus are currently used as a folklore medicine for preventing a variety of ailments including cancer. Our aim was to identify and validate an anticancer compound from Sophora interrupta using multi-spectroscopic, anticancer screening, and molecular docking approach.

METHODS

The cytotoxicity of the various solvent extracts, petroleum ether, n-butanol, and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) of the S. interrupta root powder was evaluated in a breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7). The extract that had anticancer activity was subjected to column chromatography based on the polarity of the solvents. The anticancer activity of the elution fractions was validated using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The isolated metabolite fraction with anticancer activity was run through a C18 column isocratic and gradient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The structure of the isolated compound was characterized using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), (13)C-NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer methods.

RESULTS

The crude EtAOc extract effectively inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. The column eluted chloroform and EtOAc (4:6) fraction of the EtOAc extract showed significant anticancer activity in the MCF-7 cells compared with normal mesenchymal stem cells. This fraction showed three major peaks in the HPLC chromatogram and the first major peak with a retention time (RT) of 7.153 was purified using preparative-HPLC. The structure of the compound is a piceatannol, which is a metabolic product of resveratrol. Piceatannol formed direct two hydrogen bond interactions between Cys912 (2H), and Glu878 of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) with a glide-score (G-score) of -10.193, and two hydrogen bond interactions between Cys919, and Asp1046 of VEGFR2, with a G-score of -8.359. The structure is similar to that of the crystallized protein for VEGFR1 and R2.

CONCLUSIONS

Piceatannol is a secondary metabolite of S. interrupta that has anticancer activity. Moreover, piceatannol has been isolated for the first time from S. interrupta.