ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
This article is part of the Research TopicNanomedicine and Phytotherapy in Cancer: A New Era of Alternative TherapeuticsView all 3 articles
Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Baicalin Against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells: Biochemical, In Vitro, and Computational Perspectives
Provisionally accepted
Adil Ali1
Tarun Kumar Upadhyay1*Lamya Ahmed Al-Keridis2Mohammad Y Alshahrani3
Nawaf Alshamamri4
Mohd Saeed4- 1Parul University, Vadodara, India
- 2Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 3King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
- 4University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Baicalin (BA), a flavonoid extracted from the dried roots of Scutellaria baicalensis, is very well known in traditional Chinese medicine for its anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. However, its therapeutic potential in breast cancer needs to be evaluated systematically. Methods: In this study, BA was isolated by probe sonication, bath-assisted sonication, and maceration. Chemical and structural characterisation was done by UV-Vis, FTIR, HPTLC, HPLC, LC-MS, XRD, and NMR, while morphological and physicochemical attributes were evaluated by SEM, zeta size, and zeta potential analysis. Antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH, FRAP, ABTS, reducing power, and H2O2 scavenging assays. Total flavonol, flavonoid, and phenolic contents were measured, and Biocompatibility was examined through hemolysis assay. Anticancer activity was evaluated in vitro in MCF-7 breast cancer cells through MTT, 2 NRU, DCHF-DA, staining assays (Hoechst, PI, LysoTracker, MitoTracker, JC-1, AO/EtBr), and wound healing assay. Mechanism investigations were done using network pharmacology, docking, and 500 ns molecular dynamics simulations. Results: BA possessed good antioxidant activity and biocompatibility. Phenolic (99.9±0.27 mg/g GAE), flavonoid (80.4±2 mg/g QE), and flavonol (79.4± 2mg/g QE) contents were concentration-dependent. BA revealed strong cytotoxicity towards MCF-7 cells (IC50=160 µg/mL) as compared to 5-Fluorouracil (IC50=410 µg/mL), whereas it demonstrated low toxicity towards normal fibroblasts (IC50=2 mg/mL). Cell-based assays showed induction of apoptosis, ROS production, mitochondrial and lysosomal disruption, and cell migration inhibition. Docking and simulations also ensured stable bindings with CA9, DHFR, and MMP1. Conclusion: BA demonstrates strong antioxidant and selective anticancer activity with multi-target potential, supporting its promise as a natural therapeutic candidate for breast cancer.
Keywords: Baicalin, breast cancer, Apoptosis, Network Pharmacology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ali, Upadhyay, Al-Keridis, Alshahrani, Alshamamri and Saeed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tarun Kumar Upadhyay, tarun_bioinfo@yahoo.co.in
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.