Breast cancer is the most devastating disease for women. There is
a great demand for new sources to treat this disease. Medicinal
plants are an indispensable source of bioactive compounds with
wide range of pharmacological activities. In-vitro cytotoxic activity
of Otostegia fruticosa methanolic extract against human breast
cancer was studied using MCF-7 cell line. The extract showed
mildly potent activity (IC50 ¼ 51 ± 9.836 mg/mL) in comparison to
the standard anticancer doxorubicin (IC50 ¼ 7.467 ± 1.05 mg/mL).
Potential compounds responsible for activity have been identified
using Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) module on the
major compounds detected by HPLC-MS/MS technique against
estrogen alpha receptor (ERaþ: PDB ID 2JF9). 3,5-di-O-dicaffeoyl-
quinic acid, hyperoside and rutin showed similar binding and
antagonistic interaction with the estrogen alpha receptor as tam-
oxifen in several poses. The retrieved results confirm that we can
add this plant to a powerful arsenal that combats this insidious
disease.
