The phytochemicals present in Vitex negundo leaf extract transcriptionally regulates colorectal cancer: An In vitro study using HCT-116 cells

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Currently, there is no targeted medication to improve the treatment of colorectal cancer. In this study, we tried to evaluate the anti-cancer properties of Vitex negundo (V. negundo) using colon cancer cell lines (HCT-116 cells). Flow cytometry and transcriptome analysis were used to determine whether the phytochemicals promote apoptosis in the HCT-116 cells treated with V. negundo leaf extract at a concentration of 54 μg/mL. Treatment with V. negundo showed 28.6% and 18.5% of cells underwent early and late apoptosis when compared with controls. Further, we extended our studies to investigate the genes related to apoptosis and other signalling pathways using transcriptome analysis with and without treatment of V. negundo in HCT-116 cells by employing RNA sequencing. Our results revealed that the identification of 195876 transcripts derived from the datasets, with 44682 genes that are predicted to be expressed differently. To forecast the expression characteristics, we utilized functional enrichment analysis using the GO process, GO function, and GO component. Moreover, we used the functional annotation database of David to pinpoint the biological pathways associated with CRC. Pathway study of signalling pathways associated with colorectal cancer revealed that 133 genes are implicated, 23 of which are specifically involved in WNT signalling pathways regulated in CRC, and 6 high-rank genes are represented by PPI analysis. In conclusion, our studies revealed that the phytochemicals present in V. negundo transcriptionally regulate genes related to apoptosis and cell cycle in HCT116 cells.