Phytocompounds from Withania somnifera against breast cancer: An in-silico study

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Withania somnifera, called as Indian Ginseng is a very important plant in traditional medicinal practices. The plant possesses a wide range of activity and has been used to treat multiple diseases. Ginseng possesses anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, hypoglycemic, antiarthritic, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, anti-stress, immunostimulatory and anti-cancer therapeutic activities. Cancer is a health burden prevalent worldwide and, breast cancer is the top major cause of death among women and people in the low and middle-income countries are affected in higher number because they have low treatment access. This is an in-silico study and focused on studying the interaction between five phytocompounds namely, anaferine, isopelletierin, sitoindoside IX, somniferine, withanone present in W.somnifera and the 3 proteins involved in breast cancer pathway viz., C-Raf, AKt 2 and GSK 3? through molecular docking. Methodology: We retrieved the above three proteins from PDB, retrieved five ligands from PubChem, and docking was done. Docking of the phytocompounds against the target proteins were carried out using Auto dock vina. Results: From the docking results, we found that the phytocompounds; sitoindoside IX, somniferine, withanone from Withania somnifera are effective in inhibiting the proteins causing breast cancer whereas anaferine and isopelletierin are less effective in inhibiting the breast cancer.  Conclusion: This study concludes that the phytocompounds sitoindoside IX, somniferine, withanone from W. somnifera have the potential ability to treat breast cancer. These findings will aid in the development of natural based therapy against breast cancer.