A novel insight into the cytotoxic effects of Tephrosin with calf thymus DNA: Experimental and in silico approaches

Abstract Tephrosin (TP) is a retinoid isoflavonoid that possesses various pharmacological and biological properties such as antitumor activity, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anthelmintic, and anti-insect effects. In this work, the DNA binding characteristics of Tephrosin (TP) and its cytotoxic effect on cancer cell lines were investigated by the different techniques. The binding interaction between TP with calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) has been described using multispectroscopic methods and computational calculations. The results of UV–Visible absorption showed the occurrence of groove binding between TP and ctDNA, which was also supported by the results from a negligible change in CD signal and melting temperature (Tm), as well as the quenching effect of TP on DNA. Furthermore, various thermodynamic parameters revealed that the binding process was spontaneous and the main driving-forces were hydrophobic forces. Besides with this research, computational experiments showed that TP as a DNA binding agent, inserted into the minor groove of B-DNA fragment with a C-G rich region, and forming a stable complex. MTT analysis of TP against MCF-7 cell lines represented a high cytotoxic effect.