Cytotoxic and apoptotic efficacy of Alkanna tinctoria on glioma cells

Glioblastoma is the most common lethal form of malignant tumor that arises from the central nervous system. The present-day therapeutic strategies possess their own pros and cons. Hence, there is a need to look back into the traditional medicines that could be potential agents to treat glioblastoma. One of the potential approaches in anticancer therapy is to induce tumor cell death by natural phytochemicals which pose minimum adverse effects. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of hexane extract of Alkanna tinctoria (L.) Tausch on U87MG cells using various biological activities. The results obtained from our study state that the plant extract showed potential anticancer activity against U87MG cells. The molecular docking studies indicated that alkannin and shikonin present in the extract could efficiently bind to brain tumor cell receptors and showed better docking scores when compared to commercially available drugs temozolomide and bevacizumab.