Alaouna Mohammed, Molefi Thulo, Khanyile Richard, Chauke-Malinga Nkhensani, Chatziioannou Aristotelis, Luvhengo Thifhelimbilu Emmanuel, Raletsena Maropeng, Penny Clement, Hull Rodney, Dlamini Zodwa
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Chemical pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 17;15(1):5737. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-88417-2.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is difficult to treat and has a low five-year survival rate. In South Africa, a large percentage of the population still relies on traditional plant-based medicine. To establish the utility of both methanol and water-soluble extracts from the leaves of Tulbaghia violacea, cytotoxicity assays were carried out to establish the IC values against a TNBC cell line. Cell cycle and apoptosis assays were carried out using the extracts. To identify the molecular compounds, present in water-soluble leaf extracts, NMR spectroscopy was performed. Compounds of interest were then used in computational docking studies with the anti-apoptotic protein COX-2. The IC values for the water- and methanol-soluble extracts were determined to be 400 and 820 µg/mL, respectively. The water-soluble extract induced apoptosis in the TNBC cell line to a greater extent than in the normal cell line. RNAseq indicated that there was an increase in the transcription of pro-apoptotic genes in the TNBC cell line. The crude extract also caused these cells to stall in the S phase. Of the 61 compounds identified in this extract, five demonstrated a high binding affinity for COX-2. Based on these findings, the compounds within the extract show significant potential for further investigation as candidates for the development of cancer therapeutics, particularly for TNBC.
三阴性乳腺癌(TNBC)难以治疗,五年生存率较低。在南非,很大一部分人口仍然依赖传统的植物药。为了确定紫根兰叶片甲醇提取物和水溶性提取物的效用,进行了细胞毒性试验以确定针对TNBC细胞系的半数抑制浓度(IC)值。使用这些提取物进行了细胞周期和凋亡试验。为了鉴定水溶性叶提取物中存在的分子化合物,进行了核磁共振波谱分析。然后将感兴趣的化合物用于与抗凋亡蛋白COX-2的计算机对接研究。水溶性提取物和甲醇提取物的IC值分别确定为400和820微克/毫升。水溶性提取物在TNBC细胞系中诱导凋亡的程度比在正常细胞系中更大。RNA测序表明,TNBC细胞系中促凋亡基因的转录有所增加。粗提物还导致这些细胞停滞在S期。在该提取物中鉴定出的61种化合物中,有5种对COX-2表现出高结合亲和力。基于这些发现,提取物中的化合物作为癌症治疗药物开发的候选物具有进一步研究的巨大潜力,特别是对于TNBC。