Background:Oral cancer poses a significant threat to public health worldwide. In
addition, because many chemotherapy treatments have negative side effects, natural herbs may
be beneficial for oral cancer therapy. Achyranthes aspera (AA), a potential medicinal herb, exerts
various pharmacological and biochemical activities.Objective:The present study aimed to predict the anti-oral cancer potential of AA using in silico
tools and cell death by in vitro testing.Methods:A total of fourteen bioactive constituents from AA herb were selected using phytochemical
databases. The toxicity of AA herb extract was analysed through MTT assay against
oral carcinoma A253 cell line. The binding activities of the phytocomponents against serine/
threonine-specific protein kinases isoforms, namely Akt1 (PDB ID: 3qkk) and Akt2 (PDB
ID: 2jdo) proteins, were analysed using Discovery Studio 2021 and PyRx docking software.Results:Cell viability data revealed that AA extract decreased the viability and reduced the
number of live cells of the oral carcinoma A253 cell line in a dose-dependent manner. The halfmaximal
concentration (IC50) value of AA was assessed as 204.74 μg/ml. Based on binding affinity,
saponin C (-CDOCKER energy = -77.9862), oleanolic acid (-CDOCKER energy = -
49.4349), spinasterol (-CDOCKER energy = -38.1246), 36,47-dihydroxyhenpentacontan-4-one
(-CDOCKER energy = -32.4386), and 20-hydroxyecdysone (-CDOCKER energy = -31.9138)
were identified as the best compounds against Akt1, while, compounds saponin C (-CDOCKER
energy = -134.412), oleanolic acid (-CDOCKER energy = -90.0846), spinasterol (-CDOCKER
energy = -78.3213), 20-hydroxyecdysone (-CDOCKER energy = -80.1049), and ecdysone (-
CDOCKER energy = -73.3885) were identified as Akt2 inhibitors. These top compounds fulfilled
drug score values, pharmacokinetic and physicochemical characteristics, and druglikeness
parameters.Conclusion:The present findings reveal that the lead phytomolecules of AA could be effective
and developed as a prospective drug against oral cancer.