The inhibitory mechanism of compound K on A549 lung cancer cells through EGF pathway: an in silico and in vitro approach

In previous studies compound K (CK), an active metabolite ginsenoside from Panax ginseng, was shown to exhibit anti-cancer activity. However, the mechanism of CK through the EGFR/H-Ras pathway in cancer cells has not been reported so far. Therefore, we focused on the effect of CK as an EGFR and H-Ras inhibitor by in silico and in vitro studies using A549 cells. The biological activity prediction shows that CK exhibits chemopreventive, anticarcinogenic and anti-metastatic activity. Also, using molecular docking studies it has been shown that CK exhibits a strong binding energy with EGFR and H-Ras than Erlotinib. CK inhibits cell viability, decreases cell migration, induces apoptosis and strongly decreases gene expression of EGFR and H-Ras genes in vitro. This finding suggests that the EGFR pathway is involved in the anti-cancer activity of CK of EGF-enhanced A549 lung cancer cell line.