Asparagus racemosus (Shatavari) targeting estrogen receptor α: - An in-vitro and in-silico mechanistic study

Nat Prod Res. 2020 Jun;34(11):1571-1574. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2018.1517123. Epub 2018 Dec 22.

Abstract

Breast cancer is a disease where cells in the tissue of the breast, grow and divide without normal control. Breast cancer is second major cause for death in world wide. Importance of natural product increase due to adverse effect of existing synthetic drugs. Asparagus racemosus comprises phytoestrogens which can be used for the treatment of breast cancer. In the current study, In vitro antiproliferative activity of the extracts of A. racemosus is performed in T47D cancer cell lines. Outcomes of the result indicated that aqueous methanol and methanol extract showed excellent antiproliferative activity as compared to bazedoxifene (standard), ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extract. In silico study of reported phytochemical constituents of A. racemosus was performed for understand the molecular mechanism and prospect pharmacophore development. Furthermore, compound 26 (rutin) which has been earlier reported and isolated from alcoholic extract exhibited the remarkable binding profile with estrogen receptor α. For that reason, our study proposed that A. racemosus could be used as a new source for the treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Asparagus racemosus; Breast Cancer; Docking; ERα; Phytoestrogens.

MeSH terms

  • Acetates / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / pharmacology*
  • Asparagus Plant / chemistry*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Computer Simulation
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / chemistry
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Phytoestrogens / chemistry
  • Phytoestrogens / metabolism
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Rutin / chemistry
  • Rutin / metabolism
  • Solvents / chemistry

Substances

  • Acetates
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
  • ESR1 protein, human
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha
  • Phytoestrogens
  • Plant Extracts
  • Solvents
  • Rutin
  • ethyl acetate