Structure based docking and biological evaluation towards exploring potential anti-cancerous and apoptotic activity of 6-Gingerol against human prostate carcinoma cells

Background 6-Gingerol (6-G) is the primary active phytocomponent of ginger and has been shown to regulate multiple targets against cancer and its treatment. Androgen receptors (ARs) remain critical in the progression of prostate cancer (PCa). This study focuses on investigating 6-G as a promising anti-cancerous agent that inhibits AR activity significantly.Methods In this study, molecular docking simulation was done to investigate the binding affinity of 6-G and control drug Bicalutamide (BT) against oncogenic AR and tumor suppressor estrogen receptor beta (ER beta). The crystal structure of AR and ER beta was retrieved from Protein Data Bank (PDB) and docked with 3D Pubchem structures of 6-G using iGEMDOCK and AutoDock. Further in vitro study was done to evaluate the antioxidant, anti-cancerous, apoptotic, and wound healing potential of 6-G.Results The result displays that 6-G shows good binding affinity with AR and ER beta. Condensation of the nucleus, change in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and the ability to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) were done in human PCa PC-3 cells. Results from the MTT assay demonstrated that 6-G and control drug BT showed significant (p < 0.01) dose and time dependent inhibition of human PCa PC-3 cells. 6-G increased the ROS generation intracellularly and decreased the MMP, and cell migration in treated PCa PC-3 cells. 6-G treated cells showed fragmented, condensed chromatin and nuclear apoptotic bodies.Conclusions Thus, this study validates 6-G as a potential drug candidate against human PCa. However, further study of the anticancer potency of 6-G has to be done before its use for PCa treatment.