The primary metabolites are of major importance to plants, while the secondary metabolites are of medicinal value to man (Trease and Evans, 1989) and these can equally be obtained from various anatomical structures of plants (Fahn, 1974). Man has benefited from the presence of these chemicals by exploiting the plant products as sources of sustenance in a variety of ways. For example, many drugs today are of plant origin. Pharmacological history is abounding with examples such as quinine, aspirin, picrotoxin, reserpine etc., while many of the synthetic drugs are fashioned after natural plant products (Sofowora, 1982). The Annonaceae is a large family of shrubby aromatic plants composed of 112 genera with about 2,150 species (Mabberly, 1997) and grows to about 3.6 m to 4.5 m tall. Uvaria chamae P. Beauv., commonly known as "finger root" is a climbing shrub and is found in the tropical wet and dry forests of west and central Africa along coastal scrubland. It is found alongside water in marsh forest with Alchornea cordifolia, Thalia (Maranthaceae), Dracaena arborea, Cyrtosperma, Anthocleista vogeliana, ferns, Mussa endaiserteana, Mitragyna stipulosa, Cyclosaurus (Arbonnier, 2004; Bongers et al., 2005). The fruit carpel's are in finger-like clusters, the shape giving rise to many vernacular names translated as "bush banana" or the like implying wildness where in Igala is called Ayiloko, Hausa: Kaskaifi, Yoruba: Okooja and Ghana: Akotompo. The fruits are yellow when ripe and have a sweet pulp which are edible and widely eaten (Iwu, 1993). Uvaria chamae is an important medicinal plant. The secondary metabolites isolated from the plant and their biological activities are reviewed. Chemical Constituents The search for the concerned active compounds has led to isolation of the several flavonoids, alkaloids, annonaceous acetogenins and essential oils from different plant parts of U. chamae. The preliminary phytochemicals detected from different parts of the plant are listed in Table 1 which shows the phytochemical groups present or absent in different plant parts. The bioactive compounds present in the essential oils and flavonoids isolated from the plant are listed in Table 2 and 3. Essential oils The essential oil from the root bark and leaves of U. chamae showed the presence of different constituents (Table 2). The oil from the root contained a number of oxygenated benzylbenzoate derivatives and ethers. The oil from the leaf contains predominantly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, monoterpene hydrocarbons as well as oxygenated ones (Ayedoun et al., 1999). Thymoquinoldimethyl ether, benzyl benzoate, chamanen, omethoxybenzylbenzoate, o-methoxybenzyl benzyl ether, and di-o-methoxybenxyl ether are the major components of the root oil (Park and Sutherland, 1969; Lasswell and Hufford, 1977a) while the oil from the leaf was dominated by 1-nitro-2-phenylethane (63.2%), linalool (9.9%), and germacrene D (6.6%) (Moses et al., 2013) as shown in Table 2. The bioactivities of the major constituents account for t...

Objective Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Efforts are being made to tackle the disease. However, numerous challenges are still reported. Duranta erecta showed medicinal relevance in different ailments but its molecular mechanism of action in breast cancer is not unraveled. The objective of this study is to evaluate the anticancer effect of Duranta erecta on breast cancer cells and determine the molecular mechanism of action in silico. Materials and Methods The Phytochemical Interaction Database, published literature, and the Swiss TargetPrediction database, respectively, were used to identify the active ingredients and targets of Duranta erecta. GEO datasets and TCGA databases were searched for breast cancer-related targets. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed to screen the primary targets. For GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses, ShinyGO was used. By using molecular docking, interactions between potential targets and active substances were evaluated. MTT assay was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxicity effect of Duranta erecta. Results Duranta erecta demonstrated a cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells. The IC50 values are 9.99 µg/mL and 15.07 µg/mL for the fruit extract and the leaves extract respectively. A total of 102 common targets and 77 active plant compounds were discovered, of which 37 are potential drug candidates. There were 10 hub targets identified by the PPI network. The hub targets are linked to pathways in cell proliferation and cancer. The best overall binding affinity was demonstrated by repenin A in binding with AURKA, CDK1, and EGFR. Conclusion This study was able to accurately predict the active ingredients and potential targets used in Duranta erecta's treatment of breast cancer. This study offers a fresh approach to future deeper studies on the molecular mechanisms of the plant and its compounds in breast cancer.