Antiangiogenic potential of Elaeagnus umbellata extracts and molecular docking study by targeting VEGFR-2 pathway.

BACKGROUND

Anti-angiogenesis or inhibition of blood vessel formation is the best way to prevent the growth and metastasis of tumors. Natural sources like plants are currently being explored for its antiangiogenic activity as they are factories of various phytochemicals. The goal of the current study is to investigate the antiangiogenic potential of Elaeagnus umbellata (E. umbellata) by using chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and molecular docking.

METHODS

Based on our previous research, the antiangiogenic activity was carried out using active fractions including crude methanol (Eu-Met), ethyl acetate (Eu-EtAc), and chloroform (Eu-Chf) extracts using CAM assay. Furthermore, to understand the binding mechanism of identified compounds, molecular docking was performed against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) using AutoDock vina as docking software. VEGFR-2 is overexpressed in pathological angiogenesis.

RESULTS

In CAM assay, Eu-Met, Eu-EtAc, and Eu-Chf extracts showed antiangiogenic activities but notable antiangiogenic activities were exhibited by Eu-Chf with IC50 value of 65.02 μg/mL. In molecular docking, five compounds, catechin, catechin hydrate, morin, quercetin, and rutin, reported in the extract and active fractions (Eu-Met, Eu-EtAc, and Eu-Chf) of E. umbellata showed strong interactions with VEGFR-2 with binding affinities of -9.4, -9.3, -9.9, -10.2, and -9.4 kcal/mol.

CONCLUSION

Based on our results, we can claim that E. umbellata possess antiangiogenic activity which needs to be explored further.