Phytochemical Screening and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Salvia Greggii Extracts: An in Vitro and in Silico Study

Salvia greggii is a rare species of the genus Salvia that lacks scientific biological activity reports.Antiproliferative activity of the water and ethanol extracts of S. greggii aerial parts was evaluated against seven cancer cell lines.Both extracts were phytochemically analysed using LC-MS.The major identified phytochemical was in silico screened against several tyrosine kinases receptors, that have identified roles in different types of cancers.Ethanol extract showed promising anticancer activities against all the tested cancer cell lines, with IC50 values ranging between 82 g/mL and 143 g/mL, while the aqueous extract lacked the cytotoxic activity.Carnosic acid was the major identified compound in the ethanol extract, which was found in extremely lower concentrations in the aqueous extract.This diterpene was most likely responsible for the cytotoxic activity of the ethanol extract.To confirm this an in-silico screening of the carnosic acid was conducted.This attempt revealed excellent binding interaction of carnosic acid comparable to the interaction elucidated by the potent co-crystalized ligand of serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT, PDB: 3CQW).The current study provides for the first-time evidence on the efficacy and safety of S. greggii ethanol extract as a promising anticancer agent that could be linked directly to the carnosic acid as a major phytochemical in the active extract.These findings deserve further mechanistic investigations. RezumatSalvia greggii este o specie mai puin studiat din punctul de vedere al activitii biologice.Scopul studiului a fost de a evalua activitatea antiproliferativ a extractelor apoase i etanolice obinute din prile aeriene de S. greggii.Ambele extracte au fost analizate fitochimic folosind metoda LC-MS.Principalul compus identificat a fost testat in silico mpotriva mai multor receptori ai tirozin kinazei, cu implicaii n diferite tipuri de cancer.Extractul etanolic a prezentat activiti anticancerigene mpotriva tuturor liniilor celulare testate, n timp ce extractul apos nu a prezentat activitate citotoxic.Acidul carnosic, diterpen responsabil pentru activitatea citotoxic, a fost principalul compus identificat n extractul etanolic, ns present n concentraii mici n extractul apos.De asemenea, a fost efectuat un screening in silico, pentru evidenierea interaciunii de legare a acidului carnosic comparabil cu interaciunea ligandului co-cristalizat al serin/treonin kinazei 1 (AKT, PDB: 3CQW).Studiul ofer dovezi cu privire la eficacitatea i sigurana extractului etanolic de S. greggii ca agent anticancerigen, datorit acidului carnosic.