Using Molecular Docking Analysis to Discovery Dregea sinensis Hemsl. Potential Mechanism of Anticancer, Antidepression, and Immunoregulation

BACKGROUND Dregea sinensis Hemsl. plant of the genus Dregea volubilis (Asclepiadaceae), plays a vital role in anticancer, antidepression, and immunoregulation. Steroidal glycosides are the main constituents of this herb, which were significant biological active ingredients. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to recognize the mechanism of anticancer, antidepression, and immunoregulation of D. sinensis Hemsl. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy-two steroidal glycosides of D. sinensis Hemsl. were evaluated on the docking behavior of tumor-associated proteins (PI3K, Akt, mTOR), depression-related proteins (MAO-A, MAO-B) and immune-related proteins (tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α], tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 [TNFR2], interleukin-2Rα [IL-2Rα]) using Discovery Studio version 3.1 (Accelrys, San Diego, USA). RESULTS The molecular docking analysis revealed that mostly steroidal glycosides of D. sinensis Hemsl. exhibited powerful interaction with the depression-related protein (MAO-A) and the immune-related proteins (TNFR2, IL-2Rα). Some ligands exhibited high binding energy for the tumor-associated proteins (PI3K, Akt, mTOR) and the immune-related protein (TNF-α), but MAO-B showed none interaction with the ligands. CONCLUSION This study has paved better understanding of steroidal glycosides from D. sinensis Hemsl. as potential constituents to the prevention of associated cancer, depression and disorders of immunoregulation. SUMMARY The ligand database was consist of 72 steroidal glycosides from Dregea sinensis HemslSteroidal glycosides had the potential to dock with the tumor-associated proteins (PI3K, Akt, mTOR)Steroidal glycosides were bounded with MAO-A rather than MAO-B, accorded with the inhibitor selectivity of MAOs, can be considered as potent candidate inhibitors of MAO-A72 ligands got high interaction with TNFR2 and IL-2Rα, regard the steroidal glycoside as powerful candidate inhibitors of TNFR2 and IL-2Rα. Abbreviations used: PI3K: Phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase; Akt: Protein kinase B; mTOR: Mammalian target of rapamycin; MAO-A: Monoamine oxidase A; MAO-B: Monoamine oxidase B; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor α; TNFR2: Tumor necrosis factor receptor 2; IL-2Rα: The alpha subunit (CD25) of the interleukin-2 receptor; DS: Discovery Studio; PDB: Protein Database Bank; 3D: three-dimensional.