In vitro and in silico studies on the anticancer and apoptosis‑inducing activities of the sterols identified from the soft coral, subergorgia reticulata

Background: Gorgonians and other octocorals are known to possess a huge array of secondary metabolites in which sterols are the major group of secondary metabolites apart from sesquiterpenes and diterpenes, and the bioactive metabolites could show marked biomedical potential for future drug discovery. Objective: This study was intended for the isolation and identification of sterols from the octocoral Subergorgia reticulata and to evaluate the anticancer and apoptosis‑inducing activities of the identified sterols through in vitro and in silico approach. Materials and Methods: The organism was collected from Lakshadweep Island. The isolated sterols were identified using Gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC‑MS). The structure was confirmed by using comparison of their spectra those in National Institute of Standard Technology (NIST) library. The apoptosis inducing effect of identified sterols were determined by PASS online prediction. In vitro cytotoxity studies were carried out using Dalton’s lymphoma ascites cells (DLA) and the cell viability was determined by trypan blue exclusion method. Results: Six sterols were identified from the soft coral S. reticulata. They are Cholesta‑5,22‑diene‑3ol (3β), Ergosta‑5‑22‑dien‑3ol (3β,22E 24S), Cholesterol, 26,26-Dimethyl- 5,24(28)-ergostadien-3b-ol. β‑sitosterol, and Fucosterol. In silico predictions showed that the identified sterols exhibited remarkable apoptosis agonist activity. The probability of apoptosis agonist activity were found maximum for 26,26‑Dimethyl‑5,24 (28)‑S. reticulata sterol fractions isolated were found to be having anticancer activity. Conclusions: These findings suggest that S. reticulata contained biologically active sterol compounds that may be useful in the treatment of cancer.