Bioprospection of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals suggests rutaecarpine and quinine as promising 15-lipoxygenase inhibitors.

15-Lipoxygenase (15-LOX) belongs to the family of nonheme iron containing enzymes that catalyzes the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to generate eicosanoids that play an important role in signaling pathways. The role of 15-LOX has been demonstrated in atherosclerosis as well as other inflammatory diseases. In the present study, drug-like compounds were first screened from a set of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals based on Lipinski's rule of five (ROF) and in silico toxicity filters. Two lead compounds-quinine (QUIN) and rutaecarpine (RUT) were shortlisted by analyzing molecular interactions and binding energies of the filtered compounds with the target using molecular docking. Molecular dynamics simulation studies indicate stable trajectories of apo_15-LOX and docked complexes (15-LOX_QUIN and 15-LOX_RUT). In vitro 15-LOX inhibition studies shows that both QUIN and RUT have lower inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀ ) value than the control (quercetin). Both QUIN and RUT exhibit moderate antioxidant activities. The cell viability study of these compounds suggests no significant toxicity in HEK-293 cell lines. Further, QUIN and RUT both did not show any inhibition against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species. Thus, based on our present findings, rutaecarpine and quinine may be suggested as promising 15-LOX inhibitor for the prevention of the atherosclerosis development.