Pharmacological and In Vitro Studies on Quercetin-Rich Onion Peel Extract (Allium cepa) and N-Acetylcysteine Enhancing Apoptosis in Colorectal Cancer
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancer globally with the second highest cancer-related mortality, having increased by almost 40 % over the past 40 years. Considering quercetin's limited bioavailability, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has previously emerged as a promising candidate for treatment as it has been shown to stabilize quercetin and enhance its anti-cancer effectiveness. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of onion peel extract and NAC in inducing apoptosis in CRC. Extracts were taken from onion peel using 60 % v/v ethanol and identified using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, the micronucleus assay was utilized to investigate the genotoxicity of the extract. Pharmacological network analysis was employed to elucidate the mechanism underlying the combined action of quercetin and NAC on CRC, with KEGG enrichment analysis also used to study key signaling pathways. Additionally, in vitro studies were conducted using MTT assay, apoptosis assay via flow cytometry, and western blot analysis in HT-29 and HCT-116 cells. Quercetin is a major compound in onion peel extract and showed no genotoxic effects. Pharmacological network analysis identified potential targets for quercetin and NAC combination therapy, revealing 363 overlapping target genes of quercetin and NAC in CRC, indicating their involvement in inducing CRC apoptosis. The KEGG pathway analysis revealed the top 10 pathways and showed that a…
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