Abstract
Euphorbia plants have been identified as potential sources of antitumor lead compounds. The current study aimed to isolate and identify the main active constituents of Euphorbia abyssinica latex followed by a cytotoxic evaluation. A network pharmacology approach was employed to predict the underlying mechanism. Finally, drug-likeness and ADMET studies were conducted for active compounds. The phytochemical investigation of the latex of E. abyssinica resulted in the isolation of two triterpenes, 3-acetyloxy-(3 alpha)-urs-12-en-28-oic methyl ester (1) and lup-20(29)-en-3 alpha,23-diol (2). The dichloromethane extract displayed potent cytotoxic activity against the MCF7 cell line with an IC50 value of 4.27 +/- 0.12 mu g/mL but weak activity against HepG2 and HeLa cell lines (IC50 = 20.47 +/- 1.17 and 26.73 +/- 2.99 mu g/mL, respectively) compared to doxorubicin. Compound 1 showed an encouraging cytotoxic effect against MCF7 with IC50 = 4.20 +/- 0.20 mu g/mL, followed by compound 2 (IC50 = 5.8 +/- 0.35 mu g/mL). The network analysis revealed that the two isolated compounds are linked to 68 targets of human nature, among which 51 genes are linked to breast carcinomas and 5 targets (AR, CYP19A1, EGFR, PGR, and PTGS2) might be the top therapeutic targets of isolated compounds on breast cancer. Furthermore, the gene-enrichment analysis revealed that E. abyssinica could play a role in the treatment of breast cancer by striking 51 potential targets via mainly three signaling pathways: P13K-AKT, Wnt, and VEGF. Therefore, isolated triterpenes could be considered effective antitumor agents for breast cancer by elucidating their candidate target to alleviate breast cancer and related signaling pathways of the targets.