Exploring Cassia mimosoïdes as a promising natural source of steroids with potent anti-cancer, urease inhibition, and antimicrobial properties

Abstract

The genus Cassia is a rich source of physiologically active secondary metabolites, including a novel compound named 21-methylene-24-ethylidene lophenol, alongside 15 known compounds. These compounds were characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. They exhibited promising antimicrobial activity, particularly against bacteria causing gastrointestinal infections. Compound 1 showed strong anti-bacterial activity against H. pylori and S. aur with MIC values of 0.28 and 0.12 μg mL⁻¹ respectively. The study investigated their impact on H. pylori, a contributor to ulcer development, by inhibiting the urease enzyme. Inhibiting urease can reduce H. pylori's pathogenic potential, evident from the fact that the compounds evaluated toward urease enzyme showed higher inhibitory activity (1.024 ± 0.43 <IC₅₀ > 6.678±0.11 μM) compared to standard thiourea (IC₅₀ = 18.61 ± 0.11 μM). Molecular docking studies confirmed their inhibitory action, with compound 7 notably outperforming thiourea in inhibiting urease (−6.95 kcal mol⁻¹ vs. −3.13 kcal mol⁻¹). Additionally, these compounds showed positive effects on liver functioning, which H. pylori can impair. Compound 9 shows the best response against human HepG2 liver cancer cell lines i.e., % viability is 14.47% ± 0.69 and IC₅₀ is 7.8 μM ± 0.21. These compounds hold potential as lead compounds for addressing gastrointestinal and liver disorders caused by H. pylori.