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Makale Tam Makale Uluslararası 2026

Short and efficient synthesis of the natural triterpenoids α- and β-amyrins with detailed in silico screening and in vitro anticancer evaluation against breast and prostate cancer cells

HALİL ŞENOL, Salih Tuncay, ŞEYMA ATEŞOĞLU, Abdullah Menzek, Hasan Seçen, GÜLAÇTI TOPÇU

COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY Cilt 125 · 01.12.2026
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Özet

α- and β-Amyrins are biologically important pentacyclic triterpenoids that occur at low levels in natural sources, making their isolation difficult. In this study, a simple and cost-effective semisynthetic route was developed to obtain α- and β-amyrins from ursolic acid and oleanolic acid in three steps, and the products were characterized by NMR, FT-IR, and HRMS. The compounds were evaluated against 32 therapeutically relevant targets using molecular docking, MM-GBSA, and molecular dynamics simulations. Estrogen receptor α (ERα) and androgen receptor (AR) were identified as the most promising targets, with α-amyrin exhibiting the strongest binding toward AR (MM-GBSA = −100.16 kcal/mol) and β-amyrin toward ERα (−91.94 kcal/mol). Stable receptor–ligand complexes were confirmed by 500 ns molecular dynamics simulations. In vitro cytotoxicity studies demonstrated potent antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 and PC-3 cells, with α-amyrin showing the highest activity (IC50 = 7.86 and 6.86 μM, respectively) and favorable selectivity toward cancer cells. DFT analysis indicated similar electronic properties for both isomers and identified the hydroxyl group as the principal reactive site. Overall, α- and β-amyrins, particularly α-amyrin, represent promising lead compounds targeting ERα and AR for the development of therapies against hormone-dependent cancers.

Anahtar kelimeler

Molecular docking ANTICANCER ACTIVITY alpha-amyrin DFT Oleanolic acid ursolic acid (3-Amyrin Semisynthesis Molecular dynamics simulation α-Amyrin

Atıf için künye

ŞENOL, H., Tuncay, S., ATEŞOĞLU, Ş., Menzek, A., Seçen, H., & TOPÇU, G. (2026). Short and efficient synthesis of the natural triterpenoids α- and β-amyrins with detailed in silico screening and in vitro anticancer evaluation against breast and prostate cancer cells. COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY, 125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2026.109333

BibTeX
@article{senol2026-71404,
  author = {ŞENOL, HALİL and Tuncay, Salih and ATEŞOĞLU, ŞEYMA and Menzek, Abdullah and Seçen, Hasan and TOPÇU, GÜLAÇTI},
  title = {Short and efficient synthesis of the natural triterpenoids α- and β-amyrins with detailed in silico screening and in vitro anticancer evaluation against breast and prostate cancer cells},
  journal = {COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY},
  year = {2026},
  volume = {125},
  issn = {1476-9271},
  doi = {10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2026.109333},
  url = {https://akademik.atauni.edu.tr/yayinlar/71404-short-and-efficient-synthesis-of-the-natural-triterpenoids-a-and-v-amyrins-with}
}