Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identification of anticancer phytochemicals in Aframomum danielli (LB579)

Abstract

Aframomum danielli is one of the African spices used in folklore medicine for the management of several diseases. This study identified the phytochemical components present in the n-hexane seed extract of the A. danielli by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis and also evaluated the anti-cancer potential of the identified phytochemicals by performing molecular docking against human Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) using Molegro Virtual Docker. The GC-MS analysis identified the presence of phytochemical components caryophyllene (RT: 18.479), humulene (RT: 19.189), 2-butanone (RT: 22.976), benzenesulfonamide (RT: 31.651) and 2-pyridine acetic acid (RT: 32.446). 2-Butanone was the strongest binding ligand (-65.744 kcal/mol) while caryophyllene was the weakest bind lingand (-56.311 kcal/mol). These compounds showed relative strong docking to VEGF with docking energies comparable to an anticancer drug, bevacizumab (-77.883 kcal/mol). This in silico molecular docking study has shown that these phytochemical components could be responsible for anti-cancer properties of A. danielli.