Naturopathy and Natural Therapies World Conference 2026

Abstract

Neuroblastoma, a heterogeneous pediatric malignancy of neural crest origin, continues to exhibit poor prognosis in high-risk cases despite advances in multimodal therapy. Likewise, lung cancer, particularly non–small-cell lung carcinoma NSCLC, frequently develops resistance to conventional chemotherapeutic agents. These challenges highlight the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies with improved safety, selectivity, and the ability to target key molecular drivers of tumor progression. Combination approaches involving standard chemotherapeutics and bioactive phytochemicals represent a promising avenue for enhancing anticancer efficacy. In this study, betulinic acid BA was isolated for the first time from the ethyl acetate extract of Erythrophleum suaveolens Guill. & Perr. Brenan using column chromatography and thin-layer chromatography. Structural characterization was achieved through spectroscopic analyses, including H-2D NMR and EI-MS. The cytotoxic activity of BA was evaluated using cell viability assays against SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma and A549 human lung carcinoma cell lines, with doxorubicin  employed as a reference drug. Furthermore, molecular docking studies were conducted to investigate the interaction of BA with human anaplastic lymphoma kinase ALK in complex with crizotinib, Betulinic acid  exhibited significant cytotoxic activity against both cancer cell lines. In SH-SY5Y cells, BA demonstrated an value of , markedly lower than that of doxorubicin , indicating superior potency. In A549 cells, BA showed an, comparable to doxorubicin. Notably, BA significantly potentiated DOX-induced cytotoxicity, particularly in SH-SY5Y cells, suggesting a strong chemosensitizing effect. Molecular docking revealed that BA binds within the ALK active site with a moderate binding energy , compared with crizotinib and doxorubicin  supporting ALK as a potential molecular target. Overall, these findings highlight betulinic acid as a promising natural-product scaffold with chemosensitizing potential and warrant further mechanistic and in vivo investigations toward its development for pediatric and adult oncology.

Keywords:

Betulinic Acid, Cytotoxicity, Neuroblastoma, Lung cancer, ALK, Molecular docking