Molecular docking of polyphenols and screening of antioxidant and anticancer activity of Artemisia monosperma leaf extracts in human cancer cells

Abstract This study evaluated the polyphenol content of leaf extracts from Artemisia monosperma (AM) and investigated their antioxidant properties, cytotoxic effects, and potential to induce DNA damage in human cancer cell lines. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantified polyphenols in methanolic (AMM), ethanolic (AME), and aqueous (AMA) extracts, identifying 13 compounds in AME and 12 in AMA. AMM exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity (IC50 = 24 µg/ml). Both AME and AMM demonstrated potent anticancer activity against HCT-116 (IC₅₀ = 0.38 µg/mL for AMM) and HUH-7 (IC₅₀ = 21.95 µg/mL for AMM) cells, while exhibiting minimal cytotoxicity toward normal skin fibroblast cells (BJ-1; IC₅₀ = 13.05 µg/mL for AMM), with AMM demonstrating particular selectivity for HCT-116 cells. AMM induced DNA fragmentation and modulated apoptosis-related gene expression (Bax, Bcl-2, p53) in HUH-7 cells and caused cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase in HCT-116 cells. Molecular docking further supported AMM’s apoptosis activity. These results position A. monosperma as a rich source of bioactive polyphenols and antioxidants, with AMM showing promise as a therapeutic agent, especially for colorectal cancer.