Anticancer Potential of Rhychosia beddomei: An In vitro and In silico Study

Abstract

Rhychosia beddomei is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Traditionally this plant has been used as a medicine for multiple ailments including cancer. The present study addresses the evaluation of In vitro anticancer activity by using MTT Assay of methanolic extracts of whole plant of Rhychosia beddomei in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HepG2) cell line in comparison with standard drug doxorubicin as well as In silico analysis. Doxorubicin acts in the cancer cell by intercalation into DNA and disruption of topoisomerase-II-mediated DNA repair and generation of free radicals and their damage to cellular membranes, DNA and proteins. Cytotoxicity studies have indicated that the phytoconstituents of Rhychosia beddomei have the ability to selectively target cancer, whereas minimal or negligible cytotoxic effects were observed on normal cells. The molecular docking approach was employed to check binding conformations of phytochemicals against human cyclin-dependent kinase 2, CDK-2 and Topoisomerase-2, Topo-II proteins (Protein Data bank-ID: 1DI8 and 1ZXM) through Mcule online molecular modelling tool. The docking revealed an encouraging binding score with a maximum score of -11.5 and -10.4 kCal/mol with CDK-2 and Topo-II respectively and all the selected ligands indicate promising anticancer activity. Molecular docking studies using the phytoconstituents were performed in order to gain a better understanding of the putative mechanisms of action leading to the development of improved and affordable therapies. This study paves a way to better understand the integration of molecular docking and in vitro studies can accelerate cancer drug discovery showing a good consistency of anticancer therapeutic drug potentials of Rhychosia beddomei by In vitro and In silico approaches.