Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anticancer Potential of Gloriosa superba Seed Extract with Computational Insights into Aurora Kinase B in Cervical Cancer

Cervical Cancer (CC) remains a major global health challenge, necessitating the development of novel therapeutics. Aurora Kinase B (AURKB), a critical regulator of mitosis, is often overexpressed and represents a promising oncogenic target. The present study investigated the anticancer potential of Gloriosa superba seed extract through in vitro and in silico approaches against AURKB.

Seeds were collected, dried, powdered, and extracted, followed by phytochemical screening, FTIR and GC–MS analysis, antioxidant properties, cytotoxicity, migration, gene expression analysis, and AURKB-mediated integrated in silico approaches were performed.

The extract possesses significant levels of phenolics, flavonoids, and alkaloids. FTIR and GC–MS confirmed the presence of biologically active compounds. It exhibited strong antioxidant activity, showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity, induced morphological changes, and significantly inhibited the migration of HeLa cells. RT-PCR showed modulation of AURKB and key cell cycle genes upon treatment with extract, supported by the strong binding affinity of extract compounds towards AURKB in molecular docking. Further, the TCGA-based transcriptomics and protein validation analysis confirmed the clinical relevance of AURKB in CC tissues. Co-expression analysis identified genes positively correlated with AURKB, and STRING-based PPI network construction, followed by hub gene analysis, revealed the top 20 regulatory genes in CC pathogenesis. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway indicated their involvement in critical signalling pathways like the mitotic cell cycle and chromosomal segregation.

Overall, G. superba seed extract exhibits potent antioxidant and anticancer activities mediated by the regulation of AURKB. The observed effects are attributed to the presence of betulin diacetate and 9-O-pivaloyl-N-acetylcolchinol in the extract.