Characterization of isolated compounds from Morus spp. and their biological activity as anticancer molecules

The genus Morus is well known for its medicinal benefits from time immemorial. The present work reported the health-promoting properties of the biologically active molecules present in different species of the genus Morus.

Different solvent extracts of the three plant species of Morus were investigated initially for their antioxidant effects, followed by in vitro anticancer studies against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines along with their bioactive isolates viz. cathafuran-B, moracin-M, and ursolic acid. Further, in silico docking studies were performed for the isolated compounds to predict their probable mode of interaction with P38Map Kinase.

The results indicated that all three species under study possessed remarkable antioxidant effects which are supported by a linear and positive correlation between different antioxidant activities. The in vitro cell antiproliferative test indicated that the cell survivability decreased with an increase in the concentration of extracts and compounds. Among the extracts, M. laevigata methanol extract showed 21.57, 6.27% of cell survival against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines at 800 µg/ mL concentration while among the isolated compounds, ursolic acid showed 8.46, 17.58% of cell survival at 200 µg/mL concentration. Among the three compounds docked, ursolic acid showed greater binding affinity towards the target protein in terms of its binding energy (-9.97 kJ/mol) compared to Cathafuran B (-8.35 kJ/mol) and Moracin M (-6.91 kJ/mol).

The study generated interesting results in terms of health benefits of Morus species by documenting their antioxidant and anticancer activities, thereby validating the folk claims of therapeutic benefits of mulberry.