Petiveria alliacea Reduces Tumor Burden and Metastasis and Regulates the Peripheral Immune Response in a Murine Myeloid Leukemia Model

Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Petiveria alliacea L. Phytochemicals: A Computational Study on Inhibiting SARS-CoV-2's Main Protease (Mpro)

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, also known as the COVID-19 pandemic, is still a critical risk factor for both human life and the global economy. Although, several promising therapies have been introduced in the literature to inhibit SARS-CoV-2, most of them are synthetic drugs that may have some adverse effects on the human body. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to carry out an in-silico investigation into the medicinal properties of Petiveria alliacea L. (P. alliacea L.)-mediated phytocompounds for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections since phytochemicals have fewer adverse effects compared to synthetic drugs. To explore potential phytocompounds from P. alliacea L. as candidate drug molecules, we selected the infection-causing main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 as the receptor protein. The molecular docking analysis of these receptor proteins with the different phytocompounds of P. alliacea L. was performed using AutoDock Vina. Then, we selected the three top-ranked phytocompounds (myricitrin, engeletin, and astilbin) as the candidate drug molecules based on their highest binding affinity scores of -8.9, -8.7 and -8.3 (Kcal/mol), respectively. Then, a 100 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation study was performed for their complexes with Mpro using YASARA software, computed RMSD, RMSF, PCA, DCCM, MM/PBSA, and free energy landscape (FEL), and found their almost stable binding performance. In addition, biological activity, ADME/T, DFT, and drug-likeness analyses exhibited the suitable pharmacokinetics properties of the selected phytocompounds. Therefore, the results of this study might be a useful resource for formulating a safe treatment plan for SARS-CoV-2 infections after experimental validation in wet-lab and clinical trials.

Effect of Petiveria alliacea Extracts on Metabolism of K562 Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Previously, studies have shown that leukemic cells exhibit elevated glycolytic metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation in comparison to hematopoietic stem cells. These metabolic processes play a crucial role in the growth and survival of leukemic cells. Due to the metabolic plasticity of tumor cells, the use of natural products has been proposed as a therapeutic alternative due to their ability to attack several targets in tumor cells, including those that could modulate metabolism. In this study, the potential of Petiveria alliacea to modulate the metabolism of K562 cell lysates was evaluated by non-targeted metabolomics. Initially, in vitro findings showed that P. alliacea reduces K562 cell proliferation; subsequently, alterations were observed in the endometabolome of cell lysates treated with the extract, mainly in glycolytic, phosphorylative, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Finally, in vitro assays were performed, confirming that P. Alliacea extract decreased the oxygen consumption rate and intracellular ATP. These results suggest that the anti-tumor activity of the aqueous extract on the K562 cell line is attributed to the decrease in metabolites related to cell proliferation and/or growth, such as nucleotides and nucleosides, leading to cell cycle arrest. Our results provide a preliminary part of the mechanism for the anti-tumor and antiproliferative effects of P. alliacea on cancer.