Anticancer and antimicrobial compounds from <i>Croton caudatus</i> Gieseler and <i>Eurya acuminata</i> DC: Two edible plants used in the traditional medicine of the Kuki tribes

Abstract

<i>Eurya acuminata</i> DC and <i>Croton caudatus</i> Gieseler are two ethno-medicinal plants used by Kuki community of North East India. From these plants, we have characterized fifteen phytochemicals (<b>1-15</b>) by extensive use of chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. They were also tested for <i>in vitro</i> cytotoxic effects against A549 and MIAPACA2 cell lines and antimicrobial activities against <i>Mycobacterium smegmatis</i> and <i>Candida albicans.</i> All compounds showed moderate activity against the MIAPACA2 cell lines. Compounds tricosan-1-ol (<b>6</b>), octacosanoic acid (<b>7</b>), β-sitosterol (<b>10</b>) and <i>(E)</i>-dodec-3-en-1-ol (<b>14</b>) exhibited promising activity against A549 cell lines with IC₅₀ of 16.72, 4.5, 4.42 and 4.5 μg/ml respectively. Further, hexatriacontan-1-ol (<b>2</b>) exhibited lowest MIC of 50 μg/ml against <i>C. Albicans</i> and henicosan-1-ol (<b>3</b>) at 25 μg/ml against <i>M. smegmatis.</i> They were also screened through docking analysis against two Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase nodal proteins and three feedback loop proteins of cancers. Thus, this study validates their traditional uses as herbal anticancer and antimicrobial agents.