Eco-Friendly Species Evernia prunastri (L.) Ach.: Phenolic Profile, Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, and Anticancer Properties.

Growing in prominence is the utilization of natural product-based therapies, especially edibles used in traditional medicine, as more people seek natural and holistic approaches to health and well-being. This research aimed to determine the phenolic compounds, and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects of aqueous and methanolic extracts from Evernia prunastri (L.) Ach., a common spice in Algeria. HPLC-DAD was used to establish the phenolic profile, whereas the antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH, FRAP, phosphomolybdate, and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) assays. Human red blood cell (HRBC) stabilization, albumin denaturation, and proteinase inhibition procedures were performed to investigate the anti-inflammatory activities, and an MTT assay was used to demonstrate the cytotoxic effect against three human cancer cell lines (HT-29, PC-3, A549) and human nontumor (CCD18-Co) cells. Our results showed that the major phenolics detected were mostly phenylpropanoids with domination of rosmarinic acid (79.17 mg/g), caffeic acid (46.52 mg/g), trans-cinnamic acid (29.23 mg/g), and chlorogenic acid (23.68 mg/g). In addition, six flavonoids were identified (1.98-11.34 mg/g), namely, luteolin, myricetin, kaempferol, rutin, apigenin, and quercetin. Other compounds were relatively present in both extracts, gallic acid and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (phenolic acids), except pyrocatechol (benzenediol), which was slightly detected in the aqueous extract (0.91 mg/g). Moreover, both E. prunastri extracts showed strong antioxidant activity, with a higher antioxidant potential, as shown by the methanolic extract. Likewise, both reduced HRBC hemolysis damage and moderately suppressed protein denaturation, which reflected their anti-inflammatory potential. Interestingly, the methanolic extract significantly reduced the growth of HT-29, PC-3, and A549 cells by 67.03, 75.56, and 62.96% respectively. No cytotoxic effects were observed in the nontumor cells. The methanolic extract had the lowest IC(50) values of 100 ± 0.04, 146 ± 0.05, and 112 ± 0.06 μg/mL against HT-29, PC-3, and A549 cell lines, respectively. In conclusion, E. prunastri, especially its methanolic extract, could be considered as a promising source of antioxidant and anticancer molecules.