Acetyl glycyrrhetinic acid methyl ester as a promising glycyrrhizin derivative against the breast cancer cells (MCF-7)

Tracing the pathways and mechanisms involved in the anti-breast cancer activity of glycyrrhizin using bioinformatics tools and computational methods

A complete investigation to understand the pathways that could be affected by glycyrrhizin (licorice), as anti-breast cancer (BC) agent, has not been performed to date. This study aims to investigate the pathways involved in the anti-cancer activity of glycyrrhizin against BC. For this purpose, the target genes of glycyrrhizin were obtained from the ChEMBL database. The BC-associated genes for three types of BC (breast carcinoma, malignant neoplasm of breast, and triple-negative breast neoplasms) were retrieved from DisGeNET. The target genes of glycyrrhizin and the BC-associated genes were compared, and the genes with disease specificity index (DSI) > 0.6 were selected for further evaluation using in silico methods. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed, and the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were analyzed. The potential complexes were further evaluated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The results revealed that among 80 common genes, ten genes had DSI greater than 0.6, which included POLK, TACR2, MC3R, TBXAS1, HH1R, SLCO4A1, NPY2R, ADRA2C, ADRA1A, and SLCO2B1. The binding affinity of glycyrrhizin to the cognate proteins and binding characteristics were assessed using molecular docking and binding free energy calculations (MM/GBSA). POLK, TBXAS1, and ADRA1A showed the highest binding affinity with -8.9, -9.3, and -9.6 kcal/mol, respectively. The final targets had an association with BC at several stages of tumor growth. By affecting these targets, glycyrrhizin could influence and control BC efficiently. MD simulation suggested the pathways triggered by the complex glycyrrhizin-ADRA1A were more likely to happen.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Glycyrrhizin as a Nitric Oxide Regulator in Cancer Chemotherapy

Simple Summary

Glycyrrhizin (GL) has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-oxidant activity. In particular, GL reduces multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells, which is a major obstacle to chemotherapy. Nitric oxide (NO) also plays an important role in MDR, and GL affects NO concentration in the tumor microenvironment. However, the effects of GL and NO interaction on MDR have not been reviewed. Here, we review the role of GL as an NO regulator in cancer cells and its subsequent anti-MDR effect and posit that GL is a promising MDR inhibitor for cancer chemotherapy.

Abstract

Chemotherapy is used widely for cancer treatment; however, the evolution of multidrug resistance (MDR) in many patients limits the therapeutic benefits of chemotherapy. It is important to overcome MDR for enhanced chemotherapy. ATP-dependent efflux of drugs out of cells is the main mechanism of MDR. Recent studies have suggested that nitric oxide (NO) can be used to overcome MDR by inhibiting the ATPase function of ATP-dependent pumps. Several attempts have been made to deliver NO to the tumor microenvironment (TME), however there are limitations in delivery. Glycyrrhizin (GL), an active compound of licorice, has been reported to both reduce the MDR effect by inhibiting ATP-dependent pumps and function as a regulator of NO production in the TME. In this review, we describe the potential role of GL as an NO regulator and MDR inhibitor that efficiently reduces the MDR effect in cancer chemotherapy.