Evaluation of interactions of triterpenes in Momordica charantia with proteins involved in vascularization in in silico

Angiogenesis is important process that play active role in tumorigenesis. VEGFR1, a member of the tyrosine kinase receptor family involved in this process, is known as the receptor for VEGF ligands in tumor cells. SPARC protein has recently been shown to play a role in metastasis in various types of cancer. Momordica charantia; is a valuable plant used quite often in traditional medicine. Triterpenes from various regions of that plant appear to be promising in in vitro cancer studies. In our study; literature was searched to identify possible triterpenes in this plant; triterpenes in fruit and seed were selected. The 2D and 3D structure files of these triterpenes were obtained from PubChem. The structure files of the ligands were prepared with various programs (Molecular Operating Environment, Chimera) and converted to the appropriate file format. X-ray diffraction structure files of proteins were obtained from RCSB PDB. These structure files were made suitable for molecular doking studies. Doking was performed with the AutoDock Tool and the results were scored using the Vina program to select the appropriate poses. According to the in silico analysis; It has been found that various triterpenes which can be obtained from M. charantia plant can co-inhibit VEGFR1 and SPARC proteins. These results show that these triterpenes are promising in terms of new therapeutic routes for aggressive cancer therapy.