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Abstract

Lung cancer continues to be among the top forms of cancer death globally. The demand for safer and natural therapeutic agents has made searching for plant anticancer agents more urgent. Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L.), which are linolenic acid-rich,have demonstrated good bioactive activity, such as pro-apoptotic action.To explore the anticancer action of chia seed extract, specifically its potential to induce apoptosis, suppress cell proliferation and migration, and regulate gene expression in A-549 lung cancer cells.Human lung cancer cells (A-549) were seeded and incubated with different concentrations of Chia extract. Cytotoxicity was assessed with MTT assay. Apoptosis was investigated by DAPI staining. The morphology was determined through phase-contrast microscopy.The expression of apoptotic marker genes was determined through real-time PCR. The cell migration was evaluated with a scratch wound healing assay. Molecular docking was performed to analyze the binding between linolenic acid (from chia seed) and Bax protein (PDB IDs: 1F16 and 4S0O).Chia seed extract significantly decreased A-549 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner with IC₅₀ of 40 µg/ml. Treated cells exhibited characteristic apoptotic changes such as cell shrinkage and nuclear fragmentation. Real-time PCR validated upregulation of pro-apoptotic genes. Scratch assay demonstrated reduced cell migration . Molecular docking showed moderate binding of linolenic acid to Bax protein (-4.1 and -3.1 kcal/mol binding energies), implying strengthening of apoptotic pathways.Chia seed-derived linolenic acid shows considerable anticancer activity against A-549 lung cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, suppressing cell proliferation and migration. The results indicate the therapeutic potential of compounds from chia seed as natural anticancer agents, deserving further in vivo confirmation and clinical investigation..