Gastric cancer (GC) remains one of the most prevalent and lethal malignancies worldwide. Natural flavonoids are increasingly recognized for their therapeutic potential due to their multi-target actions and favourable safety profiles. Morin, a dietary flavonol found in several plants of the Rosaceae, Moraceae, and Fagaceae families, has not been well explored in GC. In this study, network pharmacology analysis identified ten major morin-associated hub genes (PIK3R3, PIK3CA, PIK3CB, PIK3CD, PIK3R2, PLCG1, JAK2, IGF1R, ZAP70, and ERBB4), several of which are key regulators of the PI3K-Akt signalling axis. Molecular docking showed strong binding affinities of morin toward PIK3CD (-11.01 kcal/mol), ZAP70 (-10.72 kcal/mol), JAK2 (-10.53 kcal/mol), IGF1R (-9.99 kcal/mol), PIK3CA (-9.79 kcal/mol), and ERBB4 (-8.83 kcal/mol). Molecular dynamics simulations of 500 ns, along with PCA, DCCM, FEL, and MM-GBSA analyses further confirmed stable interaction of morin with PIK3CA. In vitro, morin demonstrated selective cytotoxicity, with low IC50 values in AGS (15.16 ± 0.02 μM) and NCI-N87 (15.85 ± 0.8 μM) GC cells, compared to a significantly higher IC50 in normal MCF10A cells (101.97 ± 2.61 μM). Wound-healing assays showed that morin inhibits AGS cell migration in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Integrating in silico and in vitro evidence, we propose that morin primarily targets PIK3CA leading to modulation of the PI3K-Akt pathway, thereby contributing to reduced proliferation and migration of GC cells. Together, these findings highlight morin as a promising natural molecule with therapeutic potential against gastric cancer.
Keywords: AGS cells; Gastric cancer; Molecular docking; Molecular dynamics; Morin; Network pharmacology.
© 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.