In-vitro and In-silico Studies to Validate the Repositioning of Roxithromycin in Breast Cancer

Roxithromycin is a macrocyclic lactone ring containing macrolide antibiotic which targets the protein synthesis of bacterial cells by inhibiting the translocation of 50s ribosomes peptides and its activity is well known. Roxithromycin induces growth arrest and apoptosis in malignant cells by inhibiting the protein synthesis. The aim of this research is to study the impact of roxithromycin and its cytotoxicity on breast cancer cell line (MCF7) by MTT assay and antioxidant activity through DPPH assay and molecular docking is carried out to predict the mechanism of roxithromycin as anticancer agent in breast cancer. In-vitro studies showed the cytotoxic potential of roxithromycin with a IC50 of 95µg/ml and 70µg/ml for roxithromycin and standard respectively. Further in silico studies shows the inhibitory action of roxithromycin with MCL1 and mTORC1 protein with a binding energy of -6.89kcal/mol and -6.67kcal/mol respectively. These parameters have showed a potential cytotoxic and antioxidant activity of roxithromycin in comparison with standard (5-FU) which also has reported free binding energy of of -6.00kcal/mol in previous literatures. This study offers a thorough exploration of roxithromycin potential anticancer properties, elucidating its molecular mechanisms, cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity, and binding interactions with key proteins involved in breast cancer progression. The findings suggest its consideration for in-vivo studies.