Plant-derived natural products are of great interest due to their diversity in modern drug discovery. Sarcococca saligna has been used for the treatment of different diseases. The present study was aimed at isolating phytochemical constituents including Alkaloid-C (a), Dictyophlebine (b), Sarcovagine-D (c) and Saracodine (d) Holaphylline (e) from Sarcococca saligna to investigate the anticancer effect of these compounds. These compounds were evaluated for inhibition of aromatase enzyme of breast cancer in assistance by molecular docking simulations to understand molecular interaction between the enzyme and ligands. The IC50 values of compound 1 and 5 were found 138.27 ± 0.01 µl and 12.91 ± 0.01 µl, respectively, and both were found active due to their bulky structures in comparison to the active site of aromatase enzyme. The standard drug exemestane showed potent activity in comparison with the test compounds, having IC50 values of 0.052 ± 0.01 µl. Both compounds showed favorable electrostatic interactions with the active site of aromatase enzyme but the shape and steric bulk of the compounds was the limiting factor in their inhibitory effects. New lead compounds could be generated after extensive modifications guided by computational and experimental tools as a possible anticancer agents by targeting aromatase enzyme.

中文翻译：

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甾体生物碱有效的芳香化酶抑制剂具有治疗绝经后乳腺癌的潜力。

植物来源的天然产物由于其在现代药物发现中的多样性而备受关注。Sarcococca saligna已被用于治疗各种疾病。本研究旨在从Sarcococa saligna分离生物碱中的生物化学成分，包括生物碱-C（a），杀虫剂（b），Sarcovagine-D（c）和Saracodine（d）Holaphylline（e），以研究这些化合物的抗癌作用。在分子对接模拟的帮助下，评估了这些化合物对乳腺癌芳香化酶的抑制作用，以了解该酶与配体之间的分子相互作用。化合物1和5的IC50值分别为138.27±0.01 µl和12.91±0.01 µl，与芳香酶的活性位点相比，它们的大体积结构均具有活性。与受试化合物相比，标准药物依西美坦显示出强效活性，IC50值为0.052±0.01 µl。两种化合物均与芳香酶的活性位点表现出良好的静电相互作用，但它们的形状和空间体积是其抑制作用的限制因素。经过计算机和实验工具的广泛修饰后，可能会产生新的先导化合物，这可能是靶向芳香化酶的一种可能的抗癌药。