In vitro and in silico study of Aloe vera leaf extract against human breast cancer

Abstract

Aloe vera leaf contains some bioactive compounds that have a strong binding affinity toward estrogen receptor as compared to standard drug tamoxifen. In this study, we have found that the IC₅₀ of Aloe vera leaf extract against breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) is 23 µg/mL which is much lower than the IC₅₀ (332 µg/mL) of Aloe vera leaf extract against non-cancerous cell line (NIH-3T3). We have also calculated the total concentration of phenolic acid (385.662 µg/mL), flavonoids (160.402 µg/mL) and alkaloids (276.754 µg/mL) in Aloe vera leaf extract. The free radical scavenging activity of Aloe vera leaf extract is 67% to 89% (at 50 to 300 µg/ml). Our virtual molecular docking study suggests that bioactive compounds like Aloe-emodin (−8.8 Kcal/mol), 7-hydroxy-2,5 dimethylchromone (−7.5 Kcal/mol), Beta-sitosterol (−7.3 Kcal/mol) etc. have a greater binding affinity toward estrogen alpha receptor as compared to standard drug Tamoxifen (−6.4 Kcal/mol).