Non-Toxic Flavonoids of Artemisia annua can be used as Anti-Cancer Compounds: A Computational Analysis

Abstract

Objective: To identify potential flavonoids of Artemisia annua effective against cancer using computational approaches. Study Design: Computational approaches were used to predict the anticancer activity of flavonoids through CDRUG, comparing it with the standard anticancer drug, followed by determining physiochemical properties and toxicity prediction of the selected flavonoids. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Department of Bioinformatics and Biosciences of Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) Islamabad, from December 2017 to July 2018. Materials and Methods: The flavonoids of Artemisia annua L were downloaded and computational techniques such as similarity search, toxicity prediction, targets identification etc. were applied to investigate their anti-cancer activities. Results: Luteoline, Cirsilineol, Cirsiliol, Eupatorin, Crisimaritin and Artemetin showed positive results among all the tested flavonoids. These compounds have the potential to replace anti-cancer drugs because of anti-cancer activity, toxicity against cancer cells and similarity with approved anti-cancer agents. Conclusion: The screened compounds are good candidate for future drugs to be used against cancer. However, this is an in-silico study requiring further laboratory and enzymatic assays confirmation, which can be done invitro in future.

Keywords

• artemisia annua, cancer, drug discovery, flavonoids, medicinal plants.