AccScience Publishing / CP / Volume 7 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.36922/CP025270043
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

In silico assessment of cannabinoids and related compounds as multi-target modulators of IL-2, TNF-α, HSP70/HSP90, EGF signaling, and MMP-2/MMP-9 in ovarian cancer

Gul Zaib1,2* ,  Abdul Rehman Rashid2 ,  Haleema Saadia3
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1 Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
2 Department of School of Pain and Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
3 Department of Computational Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Chongqing Medical University, China
CP 2025, 7(4), 69–79; https://doi.org/10.36922/CP025270043
Received: 3 July 2025 | Revised: 19 September 2025 | Accepted: 9 December 2025 | Published online: 31 December 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s).. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal gynecological diseases and remains a formidable challenge because of its high mortality and intrinsic resistance to conventional treatment approaches. Recent advances in molecular biology and drug discovery have identified several proteins, such as interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), heat shock proteins (HSPs), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), as potential therapeutic targets. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabinol, elasterol, and 2-methylenecholestan-3-ol are among the substances that have shown promise in modulating these targets. This study aims to evaluate, in silico, the potential of 2-methylenecholestan-3-ol, elastrol, THC, and cannabinol to modulate IL-2, TNF-α, HSPs, EGF signaling, and MMPs in ovarian cancer. Bioinformatics databases were used to identify potential therapeutic agents for ovarian cancer. Molecular docking, protein–ligand complex analysis, SwissADME, admetSAR, and toxicity prediction were performed as key components of the workflow. Overall, the in silico analyses suggest that these compounds may interact with key proteins implicated in ovarian cancer progression. Particularly, elasterol and 2-methylenecholestan-3-ol showed good therapeutic properties against OC targeting HSP70 and HSP90, whereas THC and cannabinol show adequate interactions with MMPs and TNF-α. These findings suggest potential therapeutic relevance, opening up a promising avenue for improving ovarian cancer treatment.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Ovarian cancer
Phytocompounds
HSP-70
MMPs
Molecular docking
admetSAR
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Cancer Plus, Electronic ISSN: 2661-3840 Print ISSN: 2661-3832, Published by AccScience Publishing
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