Anticancer activity of Adiantum capillus veneris and Pteris quadriureta L. in human breast cancer cell lines

Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide that costs lives of millions of people every year. Plant products with potential anticancer activities have become a vital source of novel agents in treating cancer. Adiantum capillus veneris (ACV) and Pteris Quadriureta (PQ) are such traditional herbs with potential pharmacological properties. In this study, both crude methanol extract and gold nanoparticles of ACV and PQ were tested for their anticancer activities in MCF7 and BT47 cell lines. By using GC-MS, we have identified 23 and 28 bioactive compounds in ACV and PQ respectively. We analysed the effects of ACV and PQ nanoparticles on various proteins involved in cell cycle and apoptosis using western blotting and PCR. With the help of flow cytometry, we measured number of cells undergoing apoptosis. We found that both the crude extract and nanoparticles have anti-proliferative and apoptosis inducing properties against MCF7 and BT47 cell lines. We also performed molecular docking to check whether there were any interactions between proteins involved in apoptosis and cell cycle and bioactive compounds present in the plant extracts. By using docking analysis, we also showed that phytol and eicosapentaenoic acid present in ACV and PQ interact with Bcl2 and cyclin D1. These findings demonstrate that ACV and PQ possess anticancer activities by modulating proteins involved in cell cycle and apoptosis. ACV and PQ that effectively modulate various oncogenic molecules can be used as promising agent for cancer therapy.