In-vitro antitumor activity of compounds from Glycyrrhiza glabra against C6 glioma cancer cells: identification of natural lead for further evaluation

Abstract

A HP20 resin-based unique method was adopted to get an active fraction of the hydroalcoholic extract of G. glabra roots. The fraction showed potent cytotoxicity against cancer cell line and was further subjected to detailed phytochemical investigation to obtain ten biomarkers. The isolated compounds were also tested for the cytotoxicity against the C6 glioma cell line in vitro using MTT assay. Among the isolated compounds, glycyrrhetic acid (1), glabrol (6), and glabridin (9) exhibited significant cytotoxicity. The compounds showed a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability. The active compounds were subjected to molecular docking study against topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II to support the mechanism of antitumor activity.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Glycyrrhiza glabra
• C6 glioma cells
• cytotoxicity
• bioassay guided isolation
• glycyrrhetic acid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support of Research Seed Grant from the IIT (BHU) for phytochemical work. BG, NT, NB, and BS are grateful to IIT (BHU), Varanasi, for teaching assistantship. AS is thankful to DST-INSPIRE for providing a research fellowship.