Potent anticancer activity of phenolic-enriched extracts from endemic plants supported by in vitro pharmacological analyses and in silico molecular docking

In the present study, methanol and aqueous extracts obtained from two endemic plants, Dianthus elegans var. actinopetalus (Fenzl) Reeve and Linum ciliatum Hayek, were investigated for their phenolic composition, antioxidant activities, cytotoxic potential, and supported by in silico molecular docking analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography revealed distinct phenolic acid and flavonoid profiles among the extracts, with the methanol extract of L. ciliatum (LME) exhibiting the richest phenolic content. Consistently, LME showed the highest total phenol (314.69 µg/mg) and total flavonoid (91.61 µg/mg) levels. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated using DPPH radical scavenging and metal chelation assays, in which LME demonstrated the strongest activity with the lowest IC₅₀ values (45.49 and 40.10 µg/mL, respectively), highlighting the influence of extraction solvent on bioactivity. Cytotoxic effects were assessed on Mahlavu and MCF-7 cell lines at 24, 48, and 72 h. Both methanol and aqueous extracts of L. ciliatum exhibited time-dependent cytotoxicity, with LME showing a remarkably low IC₅₀ value of 0.66 µg/mL on MCF-7 cells after 72 h. To gain insight into the molecular basis of the observed cytotoxic effects, in silico molecular docking was performed using the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein as a target. The major phenolic compounds, particularly chlorogenic acid, quercetin, and naringenin, exhibited strong binding affinities toward Bcl-2, suggesting a possible involvement of apoptosis-related pathways. In contrast, none of the extracts showed antibacterial activity against the tested Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria. Overall, the findings indicate that methanol extraction is more effective for obtaining phenolic-rich extracts with pronounced antioxidant and anticancer potential.