Cytotoxicity and anti-small cell lung cancer potential of 3-methoxy-5-nitrosalicylaldehyde: an analog for treatment of diabetes mellitus with considerable binding affinity to α-amylase enzyme
Introduction α-Amylase inhibitors are present in plants and are thought to be produced by plants to strengthen their defenses against predators. They include plant components, polyphenolic compounds and glycoproteins with enzymatic inhibitory activity. Material and methods In this study, the inhibitory effect of metabolic enzyme was obtained, IC50: 95.14 µM. The molecular docking investigation was performed as a versatile method for the evaluation of the biological activities of 3-methoxy-5-nitrosalicylaldehyde in the presence of α-amylase. The compound exhibited a considerable binding affinity to the enzyme with a docking score of –7.676 kcal/mol. Results The results of the molecular docking revealed that 3-methoxy-5-nitrosalicylaldehyde is able to construct hydrophobic contacts with crucial residues of the catalytic domain of the enzyme. According to these findings, the compound has the potential to be an inhibitor of α-amylase. The MTT test was used on normal (human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs)) and small cell lung cancer (SBC-3, DMS273, and DMS114) cell lines. 3-Methoxy-5-nitrosalicylaldehyde had high cell death and anti-small cell lung cancer effects against SBC-3, DMS273, and DMS114 cell lines. Among the above cell lines, the best result of anti-small cell lung cancer properties of the molecule was obtained in the cell line DMS273. Conclusions The results of this study indicated the excellent anti-small cell lung cancer potential of 3-methoxy-5-nitrosalicylaldehyde in in vitro conditions. After confirming the above results in the clinical trial research, this formulation may be administrated for the treatment of several types of small cell lung cancer in humans.