Harnessing Phytochemicals to Modulate the Nonsense-mediated Decay Pathway for Anticancer Drug Discovery

Cancer continues to be one of the major causes of human mortality across the globe. Current treatment options are not sufficient enough to control deaths caused by cancers and due to this there is high demand for urgent development of novel anticancer therapeutics. Since time immemorial plant materials are used either as food, drinks and flavor or as traditional medicines for the benefit of human health and wellbeing. Many studies have shown that some of the phytochemicals possess remarkable anti-cancer properties and can be utilized as potential anticancer therapeutics. There are many cellular pathways which are involved in the process of tumorigenesis. Many studies have shown the significance of involvement of nonsense mediated decay (NMD) pathway in cancer progression. Out of many proteins involved in NMD pathway Up-Frameshift (UPF) proteins UPF1, UPF2, UPF3A and UPF3B are most significant. Developing novel anticancer therapeutics through targeting the NMD pathway can be considered as a sustainable strategy towards good health and well-being (SDG 3). This current research aims to unravel the potential phytochemicals which targets the NMD pathway by modulating the function of UPF1 The molecular docking and in silico ADME analysis approach were used to screen the phytochemicals showing the ability to bind with human NMD factor UPF1.