The present study was carried out to evaluate the anticancer, antioxidant, and possible anti-inflammatory properties of diverse medicinal plants frequently used in Indian traditional medication. The selected botanicals such as Soymida fembrifuga (Roxb.) A. Juss. (Miliaceae), Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers. (Menispermaceae), Lavandula bipinnata (L.) O. Ktze. (Lamiaceae), and Helicteres isora L. (Sterculiaceae) extracted in different solvents were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer and antioxidant activities. The results obtained indicate that H. isora has potent cytotoxic activity toward the selected cancer cells such as HeLa-B75 (34.21 ± 0.24%), HL-60 (30.25 ± 1.36%), HEP-3B (25.36 ± 1.78%), and PN-15 (29.21 ± 0.52%). Interestingly, the selected botanicals selectively inhibited cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) more than (COX-1), which are the key enzymes implicated in inflammation. COX-2 inhibition was observed to be in the range of 19.66-49.52% as compared to COX-1 inhibition (3.93-19.61%). The results of the antioxidant study revealed that the selected plants were found to be effective 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl (OH), and superoxide radical (SOR) scavenging agents. High-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint of flavonoids was used as a measure of quality control of the selected plant samples. The results of the present findings strengthen the potential of the selected plants as a resource for the discovery of novel anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant agents.

The present study was carried out to evaluate anti-Helicobacter pylori and its associated urease activity of labdane diterpenoids isolated from Andrographis paniculata. A molecular docking analysis was performed by using ArgusLab 4.0.1 software. The results obtained indicate that compound A possesses strong inhibition to H. pylori, 28 ± 2.98 (minimum inhibitory concentration, 9 µg/mL), and its urease, 85.54 ± 2.62% (IC50 , 20.2 µg/mL). Compounds B, C, and D also showed moderate inhibition to H. pylori and its urease. The obtained results were in agreement with the molecular docking analysis of compounds. The phytochemicals under investigation were found to be promising antibacterial agents. Moreover, the isolated compounds can be considered as a resource for searching novel anti-H. pylori agents possessing urease inhibition.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are gram-negative spiral bacterium that is believed to be one of the main causes of chronic gastritis affecting nearly one half of world population and is a root cause of complications like mucosal atrophy, gastric carcinoma, or gastric lymphoma. The current state of the art literature describes the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains and unavoidable side effects of current therapies, therefore it becomes essential to find new, safe, effective and affordable drugs and identify new drug targets. Arginase activity is known to contribute significantly in the pathophysiology of H. pylori infections, thus making it an attractive drug target. Present investigation deals with designing the theoretical model of arginase from H. pylori followed by refinement using molecular dynamics (MD) and validation using molecular docking and paired potential analysis. Models generated using Modeller and SwissModel server were evaluated using QMEAN, ProCheck, WhatCheck/WhatIf and Verify 3D. NAMD was utilized to perform conventional MD analysis. AutoDock 4.2 and ArgusLab were employed for docking investigation and paired potential analysis was done using DrugScore potential available from online DSX-server. The proposed model qualified on geometrical, stereo-chemical and other structure validation tests possessing highly conserved active site. The MD results confirm thermodynamic and conformational stability. Docking and paired potential analysis indicate involvement of highly conserved residues in stabilization of arginase-inhibitor complexes. We propose structure of arginase, using homology modeling approach. Predicted models have passed standard evaluation tests indicating good quality models. Docking and paired-potential analysis studies revealed novel interactions that have potential to be targeted in developing further structure based drug-design experiments