In-vitro Antioxidant and Anticancer Studies of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Seed Extract and Its Oil on Seven Cell Lines with Molecular Docking Study Targeting PI3K and EGFR Inhibition

Abstract

Introduction: Natural products and neutraceuticals are considered important sources of anticancer medicines. The study was conducted to investigate the in-vitro antioxidant and anticancer activities of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) seed extract (DPSE) and its oil (Oi-Y) against seven cancer cell lines with new insights for the proposed anticancer mechanism of action via molecular docking study for the major active constituents with inhibitory effect on phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and antagonistic action of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Materials and methods: The antioxidant assay was conducted using DPPH radical scavenging activity. The anticancer activities were investigated using a variety of cell lines, including HCT-116 (colon carcinoma), HepG-2 (hepatocellular carcinoma), PC-3 (prostate cancer), A-549 (lung adenocarcinoma), HeLa (cervical cancer), HEP-2 (human larynx epithelial carcinoma), and MCF-7 (breast carcinoma). They were quantitatively determined for their in-vitro anti-neoplastic activities using a colorimetric technique. The IC50 values was computed by using optical density. Positive control was performed using doxorubicin. Results: DPSE and Oi-Y showed strong antioxidant activity compared to ascorbic acid. The oil was found to have strong cytotoxic effects on the tested cell lines than DPSE. The HepG-2 cell line was the most susceptible cell line with an IC50 value of 11.18 µg/ml. Molecular docking results showed that oleuropein, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, and chromone 1 interestingly binds with high scores with the selected PI3K and EGFR target sites. Conclusions: Our experiment showed that date palm seed extract and its oil could considerably a novel source of anticancer agents.