In vitro anti-Helicobacter pylori and anti-gastric cancer activities of Acacia nilotica aqueous leaf extract and its validation using in silico molecular docking approach

This present study aims to investigate the anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and gastric cancer properties of Acacia nilotica (A. nilotica) aqueous leaf extract. The phytochemicals of this extract were identified by Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis. The antagonistic activity of H. pylori was investigated using well diffusion assay. Cytotoxicity of crude extract studied against human gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells using 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay. Further anti-gastric cancer properties of bioactive compounds were also validated using computational studies. The drug-likeness potential of phytochemicals was analyse based on absorption, digestion, metabolism, excretion (ADME) properties. GC-MS reveals the presence of different major phytochemicals like eicosanoic acid, oleic acid, 1-hexyl-2-nitrocyclo hexane, 9-octadecenal in the crude extract. MTT assay reveals that the maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of crude extract is (99.86 mg/ml). All the compounds showed good drug-likeness score; further, these compounds were selected for molecular docking studies with targeted H. pylori virulent proteins like cytotoxic associated gene A (CagA), vacuolating associated gene (VacA), urease and gastric cancer-induced signalling proteins such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR). The validation of in vitro and in silico results proved that A. nilotica leaf extract acts as a massive anti-H. pylori and gastric cancer drug. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of Smart Materials and their Applications in Recent Technologies - 2020.