Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of Guibourtia ehie on Human Prostate (PC-3) and Breast Cancer (MC-7) Cell Lines and in silico Studies on Its Metabolite 7,4′-Dihydroxyflavone

Abstract

Guibourtia ehie (A. Chev.).Léonard (leguminosae), is a forest tree of Africa used traditionally for tumours, wound cleansing and diarrhoea. However, some of these ethnomedical uses have not been validated scientifically. The present study aimed at investigating the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cytotoxic effects of the plant extract. The study further evaluates the contribution of its metabolite 7,4′-dihydroxyflavone to these effects. Anti-inflammatory activity of the 70% ethanol extract of the stem bark of G. ehie was established using the carrageenan induced foot oedema in 7-day-old chicks at 30–100 mg/kg body weight with diclofenac as reference drug. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was used for the antioxidant test whereas cytotoxic effect was done using prostate cancer (PC-3) and breast cancer (MC-7) cell lines with MTT as a measure of cell viability. In silico analysis of the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of the compound isolated from the plant was also performed. The extract and reference drug diclofenac inhibited foot pad oedema by 28.58% and 61.99% respectively over the 5-hour period. The isolate showed a marginally higher activity than the extract (32.64%). The extract was cytotoxic against breast (MC-7) and prostate (PC-3) cancer cell lines with respective IC50 values of 67.43 and 61.12 µg/mL but showed poor selectivity index (SI < 2). The isolate 7,4′-dihydroxyflavone was non-cytotoxic and this was also confirmed from the in-silico studies. G. ehie and its isolate exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect as suggested by folklore medicine. The extract was cytotoxic to breast and prostate cancer cell lines but was nonselective.