Opening the black box: study of the multi-target anticancer mechanisms of Ecballium elaterium cucurbitacins via in vitro, network pharmacology, and molecular docking analyses.
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Selcuk University Konya Türkiye.
- 2Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University 11566-Abbassia Cairo Egypt.
- 3Center for Drug Discovery Research and Development, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University Cairo 11566 Egypt.
- 4Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University Sanliurfa 63290 Türkiye.
- 5Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Khartoum University Khartoum Sudan [email protected].
- 6Innovation Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences Jinan China [email protected].
Abstract
Ecballium elaterium is a perennial plant species that belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. In this study, we examined the biological activities and analyzed the chemical profiles of ethyl acetate, acetone, aqueous acetone, and water extracts from different parts (aerial parts, fruit peels, and seeds) of E. elaterium. We performed chemical characterization using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. To investigate the biological activities of the extracts, antioxidant capacity, enzyme inhibition, and cytotoxicity assays were conducted. Thirty-eight compounds were detected in the extracts, and cucurbitacins and their glycosides were the major components in the aerial parts and fruit peels. The aqueous acetone extract of the seeds exhibited the highest ABTS radical scavenging activity (155.82 mg TE per g), whereas the acetone extract of the aerial parts showed the greatest reducing power. The ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE. Overall, the seed extracts showed glucosidase-inhibitory activity. The ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts exhibited notable cytotoxic activity against the HCT-116 cell line (IC₅₀ of 90.44 µg mL⁻¹). Network pharmacology analysis linked the cucurbitacin-rich constituents to a converging set of cancer-related protein targets, and molecular docking predicted favorable binding affinities toward key hub proteins such as EGFR and STAT3, offering a preliminary computational rationale for the observed antitumor effects. As a result, the different E. elaterium extracts may serve as potential sources of bioactive compounds for further study and development in health-promoting applications.
Related
- α‑Aminophosphonates in anticancer drug discovery: synthetic strategies, anticancer activities, structure–activity relationships and molecular mechanisms
- Evaluating the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of ZnO nanoparticles as selective anticancer agents for lung malignancies
- Anticancer Therapy-Induced Alterations in Tumor-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: Molecular Mechanisms and Biological Effects
- Exploring the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms of Chaetomugilin Q in Breast Cancer Using Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and Bioinformatics
- Chalcone-pyridine/pyrimidine hybrids: promising candidates for anticancer drug development
BibTeX
@article{saka2026opening,
title = {{Opening the black box: study of the multi-target anticancer mechanisms of Ecballium elaterium cucurbitacins via in vitro, network pharmacology, and molecular docking analyses.}},
author = {Enver Saka and Orchid A Mahmoud and Omayma A Eldahshan and Abdel Nasser B Singab and Ismail Koyuncu and Gokhan Zengin and Sakina Yagi and Meng-Yao Li},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra07915f},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42840479},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Opening the black box: study of the multi-target anticancer mechanisms of Ecballium elaterium cucurbitacins via in vitro, network pharmacology, and molecular docking analyses.
AU - Enver Saka
AU - Orchid A Mahmoud
AU - Omayma A Eldahshan
AU - Abdel Nasser B Singab
AU - Ismail Koyuncu
AU - Gokhan Zengin
AU - Sakina Yagi
AU - Meng-Yao Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra07915f
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42840479
AB - Ecballium elaterium is a perennial plant species that belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. In this study, we examined the biological activities and analyzed the chemical profiles of ethyl acetate, acetone, aqueous acetone, and water extracts from different parts (aerial parts, fruit peels, and seeds) of E. elaterium. We performed chemical characterization using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. To investigate the biological activities of the extracts, antioxidant capacity, enzyme inhibition, and cytotoxicity assays were conducted. Thirty-eight compounds were detected in the extracts, and cucurbitacins and their glycosides were the major components in the aerial parts and fruit peels. The aqueous acetone extract of the seeds exhibited the highest ABTS radical scavenging activity (155.82 mg TE per g), whereas the acetone extract of the aerial parts showed the greatest reducing power. The ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE. Overall, the seed extracts showed glucosidase-inhibitory activity. The ethyl acetate extract of the aerial parts exhibited notable cytotoxic activity against the HCT-116 cell line (IC₅₀ of 90.44 µg mL⁻¹). Network pharmacology analysis linked the cucurbitacin-rich constituents to a converging set of cancer-related protein targets, and molecular docking predicted favorable binding affinities toward key hub proteins such as EGFR and STAT3, offering a preliminary computational rationale for the observed antitumor effects. As a result, the different E. elaterium extracts may serve as potential sources of bioactive compounds for further study and development in health-promoting applications.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -