Transcriptomics, molecular docking, and cross-resistance profiling of nobiletin in cancer cells and synergistic interaction with doxorubicin upon SOX5 transfection

•Nobiletin displayed cytotoxic activity toward a wide range of cancer cell lines from diverse organ.•Motif analysis, molecular docking and resazurin assay confirmed that nobiletin bound to the transcription factor SOX5 and suppress their expression in cancer cells.•Isobologram analyses demonstrated augmented effect of nobiletin and doxorubicin in HEK293-SOX5 cell lines.•Cross-resistance profiling with 85 standard anticancer drugs discovered association of nobiletin to antihormonal anticancer drug such as raloxifene, fulvestrant, tamoxifen and toremifene.