Chemical and Biological Insights on Phaulopsis falcisepala: A Source of Bioactive Compounds with Multifunctional Anticancer Potentials

• Published in: Chemistry Africa Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 1175 - 1189
• Main Authors: Oladipupo, Akolade R., Alaribe, Stephenie Chinwe Ama, Ogunlaja, Adeniyi S., Beniddir, Mehdi A., Ogah, Celina O., Okpuzor, Joy, Coker, Herbert A. B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Inorganic Chemistry; Organometallic Chemistry; Original Article; Molecular networking; Pharmacokinetics; Bioactive compounds; Molecular docking; Anticancer potential
• ISSN: 2522-5758; 2522-5766
• DOI: 10.1007/s42250-022-00553-8

In spite of remarkable progress and success made in anticancer research, major challenges in treatment of cancer remain recurrence of tumour and adverse effects of anticancer drugs. The search for novel, effective and safe anticancer agents, therefore remains important. This study investigated the chemical constituents of Phaulopsis falcisepala , a plant used in ethnomedicine to treat cancer; and evaluated anticancer and drug-likeness potentials of the constituents against selected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast cancer, and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) targets. Lupeol and a mixture of stigmasterol and β-sitosterol were isolated from P. falcisepala and characterized using NMR, MS and IR data. Additional fifteen compounds, including piperine, piperanine, feruloyltyramine, asperglaucide and 6,7-dihydroflavopereirine were putatively identified in the plant by analysis of its MS/MS data against tandem MS/MS data repository using the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking tool (GNPS). Using molecular docking, stigmasterol (‒ 7.8 to ‒ 10.1 Kcal/mol), β-sitosterol (‒7.0 to ‒ 9.9 Kcal/mol), and lupeol (‒ 8.2 to ‒ 9.2 Kcal/mol) showed considerable binding affinities against non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer molecular targets when compared to the reference inhibitors (‒ 8.4 to ‒ 10.8 Kcal/mol). Piperine (‒ 8.5 to ‒ 9.8 Kcal/mol), piperanine (‒ 8.5 to ‒ 9.6 Kcal/mol), and 6,7-dihydroflavopereirine (‒ 8.0 to ‒ 10.2 Kcal/mol) exerted good interactions with the active site, allosteric site and mutant form of BCR-ABL, an important target in chronic myelogenous leukemia. Many of the compounds in P. falcisepala were shown to possess fair to favourable drug likeness and ADME properties. However, lupeol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol were predicted to have poor oral absorption. Graphical Abstract