Background

In the intensified search to derive biologically active compounds from natural products for various health care issues, attention is focused on non-edible plant sources. Among the wild plants, Calotropis [milk weeds] of the family Apocynaceae, are the repository of pharmaceutically active phytoconstituents. The flowers of C. gigantea are expected to be rich in bioactive compounds.

Methods

The bioactive compounds and in vitro anticancer activity of C. gigantea flower extract were investigated. The compounds in the extract were separated using GC–MS and confirmed their structures with NIST (National Institute of Standard and Technology) database. The cytotoxicity of flower extracts against A-549 lung cancer cell lines was evaluated by MTT assay. Among the six identified compounds, three biologically active compounds with short retention time and abundance were chosen for molecular docking for anticancer activities. Molecular docking using the software GLIDE version 6.5 was used to trace their interactions with the anti-lung cancer protein, IT69.

Results

The phytochemical screening indicated the rich presence of anticancer flavonoid and phenolic compounds in the flower extract. Inhibition of cell viability and growth and morphological alterations in cells were observed when A-549 cells were exposed to different concentrations of flower extract. The highest percentage of cell death (70 %) was observed in cells exposed to 100 µg/ml concentration. Molecular docking of three identified compounds with lung anticancer protein complex, IT69 proved that Butanoic acid, 3-[(phenyl methoxy) imino] trimethylsilyl ester is a good anti-lung cancer agent. Hence for pulmonary cancer, the identified compound can intensively be tested further.

中文翻译：

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牛角瓜天然生物活性成分来源的鉴定、评价。花卉及其抗癌潜力

背景

在深入研究从天然产物中提取生物活性化合物以解决各种医疗保健问题时，人们的注意力集中在非食用植物来源上。在野生植物中，夹竹桃科的牛角瓜（Calotropis）[乳草]是药用活性植物成分的宝库。C. gigantea的花预计富含生物活性化合物。

方法

研究了巨茶花提取物的生物活性化合物和体外抗癌活性。使用 GC-MS 分离提取物中的化合物，并通过 NIST（美国国家标准技术研究所）数据库确认其结构。通过MTT测定评估花提取物对A-549肺癌细胞系的细胞毒性。在六种已鉴定的化合物中，选择了三种保留时间短、丰度短的生物活性化合物进行分子对接，以了解抗癌活性。使用 GLIDE 6.5 版软件进行分子对接，用于追踪它们与抗肺癌蛋白 IT69 的相互作用。

结果

植物化学筛选表明花提取物中含有丰富的抗癌类黄酮和酚类化合物。当 A-549 细胞暴露于不同浓度的花提取物时，观察到细胞活力和生长的抑制以及细胞形态的改变。在暴露于 100 µg/ml 浓度的细胞中观察到最高的细胞死亡百分比 (70%)。三个已鉴定化合物与肺癌抗癌蛋白复合物IT69的分子对接证明，丁酸3-[(苯基甲氧基)亚氨基]三甲基甲硅烷基酯是一种良好的抗肺癌剂。因此，对于肺癌，可以进一步对已鉴定的化合物进行集中测试。