A study of the effect of Paclitaxel, Docetaxel and Tamoxifen citrate coumpounds found in Taxus wallichiana on the Beta-tubulin and Estrogen Receptor (ESR) proteins in humans using a bioinformatics approach

Abstract

Taxus wallichiana, an indigenous plant of North East India contains bioactive compounds such as Tamoxifen citrate and taxol (paclitaxel and docetaxel) which inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. Tamoxifen citrate in its active form competitively inhibits the binding of estradiol or estrogen with estrogen receptor and results in tumor suppression whereas the taxol compounds stabilize the tubulin protein in microtubules and inhibit cell division in cancerous cells. In this approach, important domains and motifs of the protein receptors were studied and analyzed followed by homology modeling and its validation. Molecular docking studies were carried out via tubulin and estrogen receptor with paclitaxel, docetaxel, and endoxifen (an active form of tamoxifen citrate). Hence it was verified that tubulin and estrogen receptor contain binding sites for the bioactive compounds found in T. wallichiana and these bioactive compounds after binding with these receptors result in the prevention of the proliferation of the tumorous cells by stabilizing the microtubules and preventing the intake of steroidal hormones by cells respectively.