Anticancer Potential of Moringa oleifera on BRCA-1 Gene: Systems Biology

Exploring the Phytochemical, Pharmacological and Nutritional Properties of Moringa oleifera: A Comprehensive Review

Background: Moringa oleifera is one of the most nutrient-packed species, commonly known as the drumstick tree or miracle tree, and has garnered substantial popularity for its health benefits, phytochemical profile, and therapeutic potential. Moringa oleifera is a plant that is native to the Indian subcontinent and has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years owing to its nutritional and therapeutic properties. Methods: The leaves, seeds, pods, roots, and flowers of this plant are enriched with a wide range of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, alkaloids, vitamins, minerals, and essential amino acids. Therefore, it is considered a reservoir crop for both nutritional and medicinal applications. Result: The recent rediscovery of the plant is at the forefront of changes in nutrition, medicine, and public health. Owing to its varied clinical applications, the plant is a potential candidate for research in new drug development and functional foods. Conclusions: Potential applications of Moringa compounds in the treatment of chronic diseases include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial (bacterial or fungal), and anticancerous effects. In this review, various phytochemical extraction techniques, therapeutic properties, and applications are discussed.

Photoactive metabolite mediated photodynamic therapy of Rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines using medicinal plants and Doxorubicin co-treatments

BACKGROUND

Medicinal plant-mediated combinational therapies have gained importance globally due to minimal side effects and enhanced treatment outcomes compared to single-drug modalities. We aimed to analyze the cytotoxic potential of each conventional treatment i.e., photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemotherapy (doxorubicin hydrochloride; Dox-HCl) with or without various concentrations of medicinal plant extracts (PE) on soft tissue cancer Rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line.

METHODS

The Rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line was cultured and treated with Photosensitizer (Photosense (AlPc4)), Chemo (Dox-HCl), and their combinations with different concentrations of each plant extract i.e., Thuja occidentalis, Moringa oleifera, Solanum surattense. For the source of illumination, a Diode laser (λ = 630 nm ± 1 nm, Pmax = 1.5 mW) was used. Photosensitizer uptake time (∼ 45 min) was optimized through spectrophotometric measurements (absorption spectroscopy). Drug response of each treatment arm was assessed post 24 h of administration using 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5- 5-diphenyl-2 H- tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

RESULTS

PE-mediated Chemo-Photodynamic therapy (PDT) exhibited synergistic effects (CI < 1). Moreover, Rhabdomyosarcoma culture pretreated with various plant extracts for 24 h exhibited significant inhibition of cell viability however most effective outcomes were shown by low and high doses of Moringa oleifera compared to other plant extracts. Post low doses treated culture with all plant extracts followed by PDT came up with more effectiveness when compared to all di-therapy treatments.

CONCLUSION

The general outcome of this work shows that the ethanolic plant extracts (higher doses) promote the death of cancerous cells in a dose-dependent way and combining Dox-HCl and photo-mediated photodynamic therapy can yield better therapeutic outcomes.

Moringa oleifera (drumstick tree)-nutraceutical, cosmetological and medicinal importance: a review

Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) is a species of tree with an increasing utility, occurring naturally mainly in Pakistan and northern India. M. oleifera is currently cultivated in Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East. The usage of its leaves, seed oil, bark, fruits, flowers and roots has positive opinions of FDA (American Food and Drug Administration), EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and CosIng (Cosmetic Ingredients database). The chemical composition of M. oleifera is dominated by: proteins (consisting mainly of amino acids such as arginine or serine), fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6), vitamins (vitamin A, B and C and tocopherols), mineral salts (including several bioelements, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium), valuable polyphenolic compounds from the group of phenolic acids (e.g., gallic acid, ferulic acid) and flavonoids (e.g., myricetin, rutoside, and kaempferol). The raw materials show antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Dietary supplements and alimentary products containing M. oleifera are recommended as health-promoting and "novel food" preparations. The main purpose of this work was a review of the latest scientific literature on M. oleifera, with particular emphasis on the studies focusing on its chemical composition, biological activity and safety. Moreover, the review tends to discuss the results of biotechnological studies using this material and the agronomical significance.

Integrating biocomputational techniques for Breast cancer drug discovery via the HER-2, BCRA, VEGF and ER protein targets

Computational modelling remains an indispensable technique in drug discovery. With myriad of high computing resources, and improved modelling algorithms, there has been a high-speed in the drug development cycle with promising success rate compared to the traditional route. For example, lapatinib; a well-known anticancer drug with clinical applications was discovered with computational drug design techniques. Similarly, molecular modelling has been applied to various disease areas ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases. The techniques ranges from high-throughput virtual screening, molecular mechanics with generalized Born and surface area solvation (MM/GBSA) to molecular dynamics simulation. This review focuses on the application of computational modelling tools in the identification of drug candidates for Breast cancer. First, we begin with a succinct overview of molecular modelling in the drug discovery process. Next, we take note of special efforts on the developments and applications of combining these techniques with particular emphasis on possible breast cancer therapeutic targets such as estrogen receptor (ER), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), breast cancer gene 1 (BRCA1), and breast cancer gene 2 (BRCA2). Finally, we discussed the search for covalent inhibitors against these receptors using computational techniques, advances, pitfalls, possible solutions, and future perspectives.

Pharmacoinformatic screening of phytoconstituent and evaluation of its anti-PDAC effect using in vitro studies

With no prominent treatment for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in conventional chemotherapy, recent studies have focused on uniting conventional and traditional medicines including plant phytoconstituents. Herein, we used pharmacoinformatic studies to identify potent phytoconstituent as ligand having inhibition activities against canonical anticancer targets, and evaluated its effect on PDAC cell lines. SwissTargetPrediction and SuperPred tools were utilized to segregate protein targets of ligand in humans, following which FunRich was applied to garner its targets in PDAC. STRING analysis predicted protein-protein interactions and dynamic simulation studies confirmed stability of ligand-protein complex. For in vitro cytotoxic potential, ligand treatment at different concentrations was given to PDAC cell lines both alone and combined with gemcitabine, followed by evaluation of effects on migration. Differential gene expression was checked using PCR for evaluating mechanism of cytotoxicity. Results showed pentagalloylglucose (PGG) with highest docking and MMGBSA scores for Cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox2) inhibition site. SwissTargetPrediction and SuperPred analysis detected 40 targets of PGG in PDAC. Simulation data showed stability of protein-ligand complex. In in vitro experiments Mia-PaCa-2 was more sensitive to PGG than Panc-1. PGG successfully inhibited migration both alone and in combination with gemcitabine. Additionally, PGG treatment induced apoptosis in both the cell lines; but showed antagonism when combined with gemcitabine. In conclusion, our report demonstrates PGG has good binding with Cox2 and showed anti-PDAC activity by inhibiting migration and inducing apoptosis, thus it can be used as a therapy option. But further studies are required to confirm its behaviour as a combination therapy drug.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The anticancer potential of chemical constituents of Moringa oleifera targeting CDK-2 inhibition in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer using in-silico and in vitro approches

Most of the breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive recurring with a steady rate of up to 20 years dysregulating the normal cell cycle. Dinaciclib is still in clinical trials and considered as a research drug against such cancers targeting CDK2.The major goal of this study was to identify the potential inhibitors of CDK-2 present in Moringa oleifera for treating hormonal receptor positive breast cancers. For this purpose, in silico techniques; molecular docking, MM-GBSA and molecular dynamics simulations were employed to screen Moringa oleifera compounds and their anticancer potential was determined against CDK-2 protein targets. Among 36 compounds of Moringa oleifera reported in literature, chlorogenic acid (1), quercetin (2), ellagic acid (3), niazirin (4), and kaempferol (5) showed good affinity with the target. The interaction of the compounds was visualized using PYMOL software. The profiles of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME) and toxicity were determined using SWISS and ProTox II webservers. The MTT assay was performed in-vitro using MCF-7 cancer cell lines to validate the anticancer potential of Moringa oleifera leaf extract.MTT assay results revealed no significant change in proliferation of Mcf-7 cells following 24 h treatment with fraction A (petroleum ether). However, significant antiproliferative effect was observed at 200 µg/mL dose of fraction B (ethyl acetate) and cell viability was reduced to 40%.In conclusion, the data suggested that all the compounds with highest negative docking score than the reference could be the potential candidates for cyclin dependent kinase-2 (CDK-2) inhibition while ellagic acid, chlorogenic acid and quercetin being the most stable and potent inhibitors to treat estrogen receptor positive breast cancer targeting CDK-2. Moreover, the data suggested that further investigation is required to determine the optimum dose for significant antiproliferative effects using in-vivo models to validate our findings of in-silico analysis.

Insight into the corrosion inhibiting potential and anticancer activity of 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-methyl-N'-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbohydrazide via computational approaches

Cancer is a major health concern globally. Orthodox and traditional medicine have actively been explored to manage this disease. Also, corrosion is a natural catastrophe that weakens and deteriorates metallic structures and their alloys causing major structural failures and severe economic implications. Designing and exploring multi-functional materials are beneficial since they are adaptive to different fields including engineering and pharmaceutics. In this study, we examined the anti-corrosion and anti-cancer potentials of 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-methyl-N'-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbohydrazide (MAC) using computational approaches. The molecular reactivity descriptors and charge distribution parameters of MAC were studied in gas and water at density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) theory level. The binding and mechanism of interaction between MAC and iron surface was studied using Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in hydrochloric acid medium. From the DFT, MC, and MD simulations, it was observed that MAC interacted spontaneously with iron surface essentially via van der Waal and electrostatic interactions. The near-parallel alignment of the corrosion inhibitor on iron plane facilitates its adsorption and isolation of the metal surface from the acidic solution. Further, the compound was docked in the binding pocket of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK: 4FNZ) protein to assess its anti-cancer potential. The binding score, pharmacokinetics, and drug-likeness of MAC were compared with the reference drug (Crizotinib). The MAC displayed binding scores of -5.729 kcal/mol while Crizotinib has -3.904 kcal/mol. MD simulation of the complexes revealed that MAC is more stable and exhibits more favourable hydrogen bonding with the ALK receptor's active site than Crizotinib.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Moringa oleifera: An Updated Comprehensive Review of Its Pharmacological Activities, Ethnomedicinal, Phytopharmaceutical Formulation, Clinical, Phytochemical, and Toxicological Aspects

Moringa oleifera, also known as the "tree of life" or "miracle tree," is classified as an important herbal plant due to its immense medicinal and non-medicinal benefits. Traditionally, the plant is used to cure wounds, pain, ulcers, liver disease, heart disease, cancer, and inflammation. This review aims to compile an analysis of worldwide research, pharmacological activities, phytochemical, toxicological, and ethnomedicinal updates of Moringa oleifera and also provide insight into its commercial and phytopharmaceutical applications with a motive to help further research. The scientific information on this plant was obtained from various sites and search engines such as Scopus, Pub Med, Science Direct, BMC, Google Scholar, and other scientific databases. Articles available in the English language have only been referred for review. The pharmacological studies confirm the hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and anti-inflammatory potential of the extracts from the various plant parts. It was found that bioactive constituents are present in every part of the plant. So far, more than one hundred compounds from different parts of Moringa oleifera have been characterized, including alkaloids, flavonoids, anthraquinones, vitamins, glycosides, and terpenes. In addition, novel isolates such as muramoside A&B and niazimin A&B have been identified in the plant and have potent antioxidant, anticancer, antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, and nutritional effects. The traditional and nontraditional use of Moringa, its pharmacological effects and their phytopharmaceutical formulations, clinical studies, toxicity profile, and various other uses are recognized in the present review. However, several traditional uses have yet to be scientifically explored. Therefore, further studies are proposed to explore the mechanistic approach of the plant to identify and isolate active or synergistic compounds behind its therapeutic potential.

Potential Phytochemicals for Prevention of Familial Breast Cancer with BRCA Mutations

Breast cancer has remained a global challenge and the second leading cause of cancer mortality in women and family history. Hereditary factors are some of the major risk factors associated with breast cancer. Out of total breast cancer cases, 5-10% account only for familial breast cancer, and nearly 50% of all hereditary breast cancer are due to BRCA1/BRCA2 germline mutations. BRCA1/2 mutations play an important role not only in determining the clinical prognosis of breast cancer but also in the survival curves. Since this risk factor is known, a significant amount of the healthcare burden can be reduced by taking preventive measures among people with a known history of familial breast cancer. There is increasing evidence that phytochemicals of nutrients and supplements help in the prevention and cure of BRCA-related cancers by different mechanisms such as limiting DNA damage, altering estrogen metabolism, or upregulating expression of the normal BRCA allele, and ultimately enhancing DNA repair. This manuscript reviews different approaches used to identify potential phytochemicals to mitigate the risk of familial breast cancer with BRCA mutations. The findings of this review can be extended for the prevention and cure of any BRCAmutated cancer after proper experimental and clinical validation of the data.

Discovery of potential HER2 inhibitors from Mangifera indica for the treatment of HER2-Positive breast cancer: an integrated computational approach

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a member of epidermal growth factor receptors with tyrosine kinase functionality. The dimerization of HER2 leads to the autophosphorylation of tyrosine residues within its cytoplasmic domain, resulting in hyperactivation of several downstream signal transduction pathways that play an important role in tumorigenesis, cancer aggressiveness and cell proliferation. Amplification or overexpression of HER2 has been found in approximately 15-30% of breast cancers. Hence, HER2 serve as a therapeutic biomarker in breast cancer. Herein, we applied structural bioinformatics techniques via molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, Molecular mechanics/generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) calculations and pharmacokinetic models to identify putative HER2 inhibitors. Application of stringent molecular docking results in the identification of bioactive compounds from Mangifera indica as selective, potent inhibitors of HER2. However, only the top three compounds with the highest negative docking score (< -9kcal/mol) was considered in reference to neratinib (-8.601 kcal/mol) for computational analysis. The molecular dynamics simulations and post-simulation analysis of docked HER2-ligand complexes unveil the substantial stability for M. indica ligands over the 100 ns simulation period. Additionally, MM/GBSA binding free energy calculation supports the inhibitory potential for the docked ligands, which exclusively revealed the highest binding energy for selected M. indica ligands than the reference compound (neratinib). The pharmacokinetic model showed that M. indica ligands are promising therapeutic agents. Conclusively, bioactive compounds from M. indica may serve as lead molecules that could be developed into potent and effective HER2 inhibitors for breast cancer treatment.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Structure-based discovery of selective CYP17A1 inhibitors for Castration-resistant prostate cancer treatment

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy found in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) is defined by PCa cells that stop responding to hormone therapy. Cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (CYP17A1) plays a critical role in the biosynthesis of androgens in humans. Androgen signaling cascade is a principal survival pathway for PCa cells and androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) remains the key treatment for patients marked with locally advanced and metastatic PCa cells. Available synthetic drugs have been reported for toxicity, drug resistance, and decreasing efficacy. Thus, the design of novel selective inhibitors of CYP17A1 lyase would help circumvent associated side effects and improve pharmacological activities. Therefore, we employed structural bioinformatics techniques via molecular docking; molecular mechanics generalized born surface area (MM-GBSA), molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and pharmacokinetic study to identify putative CYP17A1 lyase inhibitors. The results of the computational investigation showed that the Prunus dulcis compounds exhibited higher binding energy than the clinically approved abiraterone acetate. The stability of the ligand with the highest binding affinity (quercetin-3-o-rutinoside) was observed during MD simulation for 10 ns. Quercetin-3-o-rutinoside was observed to be stable within the active site of CYP17A1Lyase throughout the simulation period. The result of the pharmacokinetic study revealed that these compounds are promising therapeutic agents. Collectively, this study proposed that bioactive compounds from P. dulcis may be potential selective inhibitors of CYP17A1Lyase in CRPC treatments.

Computational Evaluation of Bioactive Compounds from Colocasia affinis Schott as a Novel EGFR Inhibitor for Cancer Treatment

INTRODUCTION

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a transmembrane protein that belongs to the ErbB/HER-family of tyrosine kinase receptors. Somatic mutations and overexpression of EGFR have been reported to play a vital role in cancer cell development and progression, including cell proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis, apoptosis, and metastatic spread. Hence, EGFR is an important therapeutic target for the treatment of various types of epithelial cancers. Somatic mutations have led to resistance to clinically approved synthetic EGFR inhibitors. Furthermore, synthetic EGFR inhibitors have been associated with several side effects. Thus, there is a need to develop novel EGFR inhibitors with an acceptable biosafety profile and high efficacy.

METHODS

Herein, we employed structural bioinformatics and theoretical chemistry techniques via molecular docking, molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) calculation, density functional theory analysis (DFT), and pharmacokinetic study to identify novel EGFR inhibitors.

RESULTS

The stringent molecular docking and MM-GBSA calculations identified MET 793, LYS 745, PHE 723, ASP 855, ARG 411, and THR 854 as principal amino acid residues for EGFR-ligands interactions. Furthermore, Colocasia affinis Schott compounds exhibited higher binding energy and more stable interactions than the reference compound (gefitinib). DFT analysis also ascertains better bioactivity and chemical reactivity of C. affinis Schott with favorable intramolecular charge transfer between electron-donor and electron acceptor groups. The pharmacokinetic profile of C. affinis Schott bioactive compounds satisfies Lipinski's rule of five assessment.

CONCLUSION

Collectively, C. affinis Schott compounds demonstrated higher inhibitory potentials against EGFR and better pharmacological properties when compared with gefitinib. C. affinis Schott compounds are therefore suggested as promising therapeutic EGFR inhibitors for cancer treatment.