Phytochemical profiling, antioxidant properties, and anticancer activity of Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart. from the Ecuadorian Amazon

Some fruits are used as promising anticancer agents due to their antioxidant and antimutagenic properties. This work explores the potential of the fruit of Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart. as a source of compounds with anticancer activity. The research covers: (i) phytochemical profiling of hydroethanolic extracts from the peel, pulp, and seeds of P. cecropiifolia Mart. using liquid ultra-performance chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS); (ii) evaluation of antioxidant and anticancer potential of the extracts against carcinoma cell lines (HeLa, RKO, MCF-7, and T47D); and (iii) in silico docking analyses with human cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP 1A1) and CYP 1B1. A total of 18 compounds were tentatively identified by UPLC-QTOF-MS, including flavonoids, phenolic glycosides, lignans, phenolic acids, terpenes, iridoid glycosides, proanthocyanidins, curcuminoids, and naphthodianthrone. Molecular docking simulations identified nortracheloside and epicatechin as potential inhibitors of CYP 1A1 and CYP 1B1, suggesting cytotoxic activity. The antiproliferation assay showed that pulp extracts had moderate activity against human breast ductal cancer cells.