Network pharmacology based high throughput screening for identification of multi targeted anti-diabetic compound from traditionally used plants

Alkaloids from Siparuna (Siparunaceae) are predicted as the inhibitors of proteolysis and plasma coagulation caused by snake venom and potentially counteract phospholipase A2 activity of Bothrops jararaca

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Snakebite envenomation (SBE) is the world's most lethal neglected tropical disease. Bothrops jararaca is the species that causes the greatest number of SBEs in the South and Southeastern of Brazil. The main symptoms are local (inflammation, edema, hemorrhage, and myonecrosis) and systemic (hemorrhage, hemostatic alterations with consumptive coagulopathy, and death) effects. Species of the genus Siparuna, Siparunaceae, are used in folk and traditional medicine to treat SBE. However, limited information is available concerning Brazilian Siparuna species against SBE.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To investigate the correlation between the compounds present in the extracts of five Siparuna species as potential agents against proteolytic activity, plasma coagulation, and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activity caused by B. jararaca venom, using data obtained by UHPLC-MS/MS, biological activity, and multivariate statistics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The ethanol extracts from leaves of S. ficoides, S. decipiens, S. glycycarpa, S. reginae, and S. cymosa were fractionated by liquid-liquid extraction using different solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol), affording their respective extracts, totaling 25 samples that were assayed through in vitro plasma coagulation and proteolytic activity assays. Moreover, the extracts were analyzed by UHPLC-MS/MS, using electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) in negative and positive ionization modes. The data was processed in MZmine v. 2.53 and evaluated by multivariate statistical tests (PLS) using the software UnscramblerX v. 10.4. These data were also used to build molecular networks (GNPS), and some ions of interest could be annotated using the library of molecules on the GNPS platform.

RESULTS

A total of 19 extracts inhibited B. jararaca-induced plasma coagulation, with emphasis on S. cymosa and S. reginae (800 s). The inhibition of the proteolytic activity was also promising, ranging from 16% (S. glycycarpa) to 99% (S. cymosa, S. decipiens, and S. reginae). In addition, most extracts from S. cymosa and S. reginae inhibited 70-90% of PLA2 activity. Based on data from positive mode APCI analyses, it was possible to obtain a statistic model with reliable predictive capacity which exhibited an average R2 of 0.95 and a Q2 of 0.88, indicating a robust fit. This process revealed five ions, identified as the alkaloids: coclaurine (1), stepholidine (2) O-methylisopiline (3), nornantenine (4) and laurolitsine (5). This is the first study to evidence the potential antivenom of alkaloids from Siparuna species.

CONCLUSIONS

Altogether, our results give support to the popular use of Siparuna extracts in SBE accidents, suggesting their potential as an alternative or complementary strategy against envenoming by B. jararaca venom. The predicted ions in the chemometric analysis for the assayed activities can also be correlated with the blocking activity and encourage the continuation of this study for possible isolation and testing of individual compounds on the used models.

Molecular modelling, docking and network analysis of phytochemicals from Haritaki churna: role of protein cross-talks for their action

Phytochemicals are bioactive agents present in medicinal plants with therapeutic values. Phytochemicals isolated from plants target multiple cellular processes. In the current work, we have used fractionation techniques to identify 13 bioactive polyphenols in ayurvedic medicine Haritaki Churna. Employing the advanced spectroscopic and fractionation, structure of bioactive polyphenols was determined. Blasting the phytochemical structure allow us to identify a total of 469 protein targets from Drug bank and Binding DB. Phytochemicals with their protein targets from Drug bank was used to create a phytochemical-protein network comprising of 394 nodes and 1023 edges. It highlights the extensive cross-talk between protein target corresponding to different phytochemicals. Analysis of protein targets from Binding data bank gives a network comprised of 143 nodes and 275 edges. Taking the data together from Drug bank and binding data, seven most prominent drug targets (HSP90AA1, c-Src kinase, EGFR, Akt1, EGFR, AR, and ESR-α) were found to be target of the phytochemicals. Molecular modelling and docking experiment indicate that phytochemicals are fitting nicely into active site of the target proteins. The binding energy of the phytochemicals were better than the inhibitors of these protein targets. The strength and stability of the protein ligand complexes were further confirmed using molecular dynamic simulation studies. Further, the ADMET profiles of phytochemicals extracted from HCAE suggests that they can be potential drug targets. The phytochemical cross-talk was further proven by choosing c-Src as a model. HCAE down regulated c-Src and its downstream protein targets such as Akt1, cyclin D1 and vimentin. Hence, network analysis followed by molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation and in-vitro studies clearly highlight the role of protein network and subsequent selection of drug candidate based on network pharmacology.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Mahanine mediated therapeutic inhibition of estrogen receptor-α and CDK4/6 expression, decipher the chemoprevention-signaling cascade in preclinical model of breast cancer

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Mahanine (MH), a naturally occurring carbazole alkaloid, isolated from Ayurvedic medicinal plant Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng, has been shown to have various pharmacological properties, including its inhibitory activity against different breast cancers (BC) subtypes.

AIM OF THE STUDY

While MH triggers apoptosis in BC cells regardless of subtype, the specific mechanism of MH action is not fully understood. In this study, we show the effect of MH in preventing BC progression by inducing apoptosis in relation to estrogen receptor-α (ERα) and cell cycle regulatory proteins.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To assess the pharmacological activity in various in vitro and in vivo tests, isolated and pure MH was used. To conclude the study, cutting edged molecular biology techniques including Western blot analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), molecular simulation study, and other related software analysis were employed.

RESULTS

MH demonstrated dose dependent cell viability against drug sensitive (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and paclitaxel resistant (MCF-7TR and MDA-MB-231TR) BC cells. MH also exhibited synergistic activity with tamoxifen (TAM) against estrogen receptor positive (ER+) BC cells by inhibiting ERα expression in MCF-7 cells and N-Methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced mammary tumor in a dose-dependent manner while having no effect on vinculin expression. In addition, MH inhibited cell cycle regulatory genes namely CDK1/CDK4/CDK6/CDC25A and neo-angiogenesis through downregulation of CD31/PECAMs in MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 cells and mammary tumors from MNU-induced rats. MH therapy has been shown to be significantly able to lower the serum leptin level and to be beneficial against the initiation of tumor development in SD rats for up to 12 weeks. Molecular modeling study revealed that MH has antagonized the effectiveness of several types of estrogen those bind to the ERα and has comparable binding efficacy to TAM.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the current investigation showed the ability of MH to modify cell cycle genes especially CDK4 and CDK6 might be responsible for its anticancer activity against different breast cancer subtypes. Additionally, this study will aid in advancing MH translational research to the clinical trial stage.

Computational analysis of potential drug-like compounds from Solanum torvum - A promising phytotherapeutics approach for the treatment of diabetes

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global pandemic that is characterized by high blood glucose levels. Conventional treatments have limitations, leading to the search for natural alternatives. This study focused on Solanum torvum (STV), a medicinal plant, to identify potential anti-diabetic compounds using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. We focused on identifying natural inhibitors of two key enzymes involved in glucose metabolism: α-amylase (1HNY) and α-glucosidase (4J5T). In our preliminary docking study, rutin showed the highest binding affinity (-11.58 kcal/mol) to α-amylase, followed by chlorogenin (-7.58 kcal/mol) and myricetin (-5.82 kcal/mol). For α-glucosidase, rutin had the highest binding affinity (-11.78 kcal/mol), followed by chlorogenin (-7.11 kcal/mol) and fisetin (-6.44 kcal/mol). Hence, chlorogenin and rutin were selected for further analysis and compared with acarbose, an FDA-approved antidiabetic drug. Comparative docking revealed that chlorogenin had the highest binding affinity of (-9.9 kcal/mol) > rutin (-8.7 kcal/mol) and > acarbose (-7.7 kcal/mol) for α-amylase. While docking with α-glucosidase, chlorogenin again had the highest binding affinity of (-9.8 kcal/mol) > compared to rutin (-9.5 kcal/mol) and acarbose (-7.9 kcal/mol). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted to assess their stability. We simulated 100 nanoseconds (ns) trajectories to analyze their stability on various parameters, including RMSD, RMSF, RG, SASA, H-bond analysis, PCA, FEL, and MM-PBSA on the six docked proteins. In conclusion, our study suggests that chlorogenin and rutin derived from STV may be effective natural therapeutic agents for diabetes management because of their strong binding affinities for the α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Dietary phytochemicals/nutrients as promising protector of breast cancer development: a comprehensive analysis

Genetic change, particularly epigenetic alteration, is one of the imperative factors for sporadic breast cancer development in the worldwide population of women. The DNA methylation process is essential and natural for human cellular renewal and tissue homeostasis, but its dysregulation contributes to many pathological changes, including breast tumorigenesis. Chemopreventive agents mainly protect the abnormal DNA methylation either by hindering the division of pre-malignant cells or looming the DNA damage, which leads to malignancy. The present review article is about understanding the potential role of dietary phytochemicals in breast cancer prevention. Accordingly, a literature search of the published article until August 2021 has been performed. Further, we have investigated the binding affinity of different phytochemicals isolated from diverse dietary sources against the various oncogenic proteins related to breast cancer initiation to understand the common target(s) in breast cancer prevention mechanisms. Various small phytochemicals, especially dietary phytochemicals including sulforaphane, mahanine, resveratrol, linolenic acid, diallyl sulfide, benzyl/phenethyl isothiocyanate, etc. are being investigated as the chemopreventive agent to manage breast cancer development, and some of them have shown promising outcomes in the cited research. In this present review, we discuss the recent advancement in acceptance of such types of potential dietary phytochemicals as a chemopreventive agent against breast cancer development and their inner lining mechanism. The critical clinical trials and cohort studies have also been considered to understand the progress in contemporary perspectives.