Cytotoxic potential of Rheum emodi capped silver nanoparticles and In silico study of human CDK-4/6 proteins with hydroxyanthraquinones

Abstract In the present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized via green route using Rheum emodi roots extract (RERE) and carried out a comparative anticancer potential analysis of pure RERE and RERE mediated AgNPs against DMBA and croton oil-induced skin carcinogenesis in mice and on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines. It came out to be that RERE mediated AgNPs exhibited cubic crystallinity with F m 3 ¯ m space group as confirmed by the XRD technique. The surface plasmon resonance effect has been observed in the UV–Visible spectra of AgNPs. Furthermore, FTIR was used to confirm the presence of hydroxyanthraquinones in RERE. The synthesized AgNPs displayed pseudo-spherical microstructure with an average particle diameter of ~30 ​nm. The in vitro cytotoxic potential of RERE and RERE mediated AgNPs against breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231) was also investigated. The in vivo anticancer potential of RERE and RERE mediated AgNPs was evaluated against DMBA and croton oil-induced skin carcinogenesis in mice using various morphological, biochemical and histopathological parameters. In summary, RERE and RERE mediated AgNPs showed vital cytotoxic potential to combat against cancer. The present study portrays in-depth study of computational interactions between the anticancer proteins (CDK4/6) with the ligands (hydroxyanthraquinones) by using In silico molecular docking. From this study we can understand the pharmacokinetic activities, which can be helpful in developing new drug in cost effective manner.