Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences (ISSN: 2581-5423)
Volume 4 Issue 2 February 2020
Research Article
A Recepto-Informatics Study of the Natural Nutraceuticals having
Potential Anticancer Efficacy for Breast Cancer
Mohd Ahmar Rauf
1
*, Asim Azhar
2
and Mohammad Oves
3
1
Department of Pharmacy, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
2
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi, India
3
Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdul Aziz University,
Jeddah, KSA, Saudi Arabia
*Corresponding Author: Mohd Ahmar Rauf, Department of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
Abstract
Keywords: Dietary Phenols; Human Estrogen Receptor; Tamoxifen; Breast Cancer; Calycosin; Daidzein; Geinstein; Naringenin
Citation: Mohd Ahmar Rauf., et al. “A Recepto-Informatics Study of the Natural Nutraceuticals having Potential Anticancer Efficacy for Breast Cancer".
Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 4.2 (2020): 01-08.
Received: January 04, 2020
Published: January 08, 2020
© All rights are reserved by Mohd Ahmar
Rauf., et al.
Breast cancer is one of the most leading causes of death in
women across the world accounting for approximately 15% of all
female cancer deaths in the United States [1]. Healthy breast cells
and most breast cancer cells possess receptors for estrogen and
progesterone circulating in the blood [2]. The binding of hormones
with their respective receptors induces growth response in the
form of signal cascade culminating in cell proliferation and growth.
Moreover, both estrogen and progesterone function following on-
cogenes and tumor suppressor genes resulting in cancer progres-
sion [3].
Various phytochemicals have been shown to kill plethora of
cancer cells [4] successfully. Moreover, recent research has shown
that increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit might help
in checking the risk of breast cancer [5,6]. For example, it is dem-
onstrated that the intake of soy food is related to more prolonged
survival and low recurrence among breast cancer patients, thus
establishing the relationship of soy food with breast cancer. In gen-
eral, phytochemicals may be classified into several classes; among
Introduction
Background: Breast cancer is a serious global health concern causing the highest mortality rate in females. Available synthetic drugs
to treat breast cancer are marred by extreme toxicity issues and suggest some alternate route to address the dreadful disease. The
present study is an insilico effort to identify the antitumor potential of specific plant metabolites.
Materials and Methods: The structure of the Human Estrogen Receptor (HER), a potential target of breast cancer was chosen as
target molecules, retrieved from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and the structures of flavonoid compounds have been collected from
PubChem database. Molecular docking and drug similarity studies were performed for these natural compounds to assess and ana-
lyze the anti-breast cancer action.
Results: Replacement of pharmacophore group in genistein with chlorate group and beta glycoside in daidzein was shown to pos-
sess more affinity as compared to that of standard drugs Tamoxifen, Toremifene and Raloxifene. The interaction studies suggest that
the compound could serve as probable lead molecules in drug development. Both the compounds also exhibited the highest binding
affinity with human ER more significant than 8.0 Kcal/mol.
Conclusion: The results of this study can be implemented to design novel anti-cancerous drugs in the coming future. The interaction
studies of the standard drug with Breast cancer markers serve as a tool to synthesize new compounds of desired efficacy against the
deadly disease.
these, both flavonoids and isoflavones have been found to demon-
strate strong anti-cancer properties. Among these, dietary phy-
toestrogen is a versatile family of naturally occurring non-steroidal
plant-based compounds that can act as an alternative of estrogen.
Due to their structural similarity with estrogens, phytoestrogen/
isoflavones can be exploited for their estrogenic or anti-estrogenic
effects [7,8]. It is hypothesized that this structural resemblance
may induce competition with estrogen for its binding to the hu-
man estrogen receptor (HER). Depending on the type of HER on
the cells, these chemicals may activate or suppresses the activity of
estrogen, thereby in some cases decreasing the health risks associ-
ated with excess intake of estrogen. Thus, some isoflavones can re-
verse the effect of estrogen, a hormone correlated to an augmented
risk of breast and other hormone-dependent cancers [9]. They act
rather like Tamoxifen, a drug commonly used to treat and prevent
breast cancer.
Soy food is a vibrant and dietary source of isoflavones. Genis-
tein, naringenin, calycosin and daidzein are principal isoflavones
present in soy food [10]. Most of the compounds possess anti-can-
DOI: 10.31080/ASPS.2020.04.a-recepto-informatics-study-of-the-natural-nu-
traceuticals-having-potential-anticancer-efficacy-for-breast-cancer