Metabolic profiling of Lagunaria patersonii leaves extract in relation to its cytotoxic activity: in vitro and in silico studies

Eladl, Mayar M.; Abo-Elfadl, Mahmoud T.; Al-Karmalawy, Ahmed A.; Mohamed, Osama G.; Tripathi, Ashootosh; El-Fiky, Nabaweya M.; Selim, Nabil M.; Elmotayam, Amira K.

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2025.372647.11547

	Metabolic profiling of Lagunaria patersonii leaves extract in relation to its cytotoxic activity: in vitro and in silico studies
Egyptian Journal of Chemistry
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 02 June 2025
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.21608/ejchem.2025.372647.11547
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Authors
Mayar M. Eladl ¹; Mahmoud T. Abo-Elfadl²; Ahmed A. Al-Karmalawy³^{, 4}; Osama G. Mohamed ¹^{, 5}; Ashootosh Tripathi ⁵^{, 6}; Nabaweya M. El-Fiky¹; Nabil M. Selim ¹; Amira K. Elmotayam¹
¹Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt.
²Biochemistry Department, Biotechnology Research Institute, Cancer Biology and Genetics Laboratory, Centre of Excellence for Advanced Sciences, National Research Centre, Giza 12622, Egypt.
³Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The University of Mashreq, Baghdad 10023, Iraq.
⁴Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Horus University-Egypt, New Damietta 34518, Egypt.
⁵Natural Products Discovery Core, Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
⁶Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Abstract
Lagunaria patersonii (Andrews) G. Don. leaves were studied for their cytotoxic activity in relation to phytoconstituents on different tumor cell lines. The fractions prepared from the total alcoholic extract: n-hexane (Hex.), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and butanol (BuOH) were evaluated on three human cancer cell lines: Caco-2, MCF7, and PC3, using MTT assay. Both Hex and DCM showed strong cytotoxic activity against PC3 cells and moderate cytotoxic activity against Caco-2 and MCF7 cell lines. Thus, the fluorescent staining and immunofluorescence techniques were used to determine the effects of Hex and DCM fractions on cell death and the anti-apoptotic protein (BCL-2) expression in PC3 cells. The predominant mode of cell death was late apoptosis. Meanwhile, there was a significant decrease in BCL-2 protein expression in both Hex and DCM-treated cells compared to untreated control cells. The two bioactive fractions were screened for their phytoconstituents using UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS where 22 compounds were tentatively identified. In addition, the Hex fraction was examined using GLC for its lipid content. 33 fatty acids were detected in the saponifiable fraction, while 19 compounds were detected in the unsaponifiable fraction. The isolated bioactive compounds from the two fractions were identified as 24-methylene-3, 4-seco-cycloart-4(28)-en-3-oic acid, triolein, and stigmasterol. A molecular docking study on BCL-2 target receptor revealed that the isolated compounds demonstrated high binding scores, particularly triolein, which surpassed the co-crystallized ligand. This strongly suggests the significant apoptotic potential of the examined candidates derived from Lagunaria patersonii (Andrews) G. Don leaves.
Keywords
Apoptosis; MTT assay; 24-methylene-3 4-seco-cycloart-4(28)-en-3-oic acid; Molecular docking, Lagunaria patersonii, BCL-2, PC3 cell line


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