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From malaria to cancer

Artemisinins may have multiple medical benefits –including in the treatment of cancer. Artemisinins were originally isolated from the sweet wormwood plant, long usedin the Chinese herbal remedy Qinghaosu. As well as their antimalarial properties, they have multiple other potentially beneficial activities leading to some suggestions they could become the ‘new aspirin’, another plant derived product with a host of beneficial effects. Artemisinins anti-cancer properties have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. We contributed to one study on a synthetic derivate of artemisinin, artemisonefinding significant activity on a range of cancer cell lines (Gravett et al. 2011). Artemisone was also able to enhance the anticancer effects of other commonly used anticancer agents. We took this work further by recently publishing results of a randomised placebo controlled pilot study of artesunate in colorectal cancer. We randomized 23 patients with resectable colorectal cancer to receive either 14 daily doses of artesunate or placebo (Krishna et al. 2014). During a median follow up time of 42 months, 1 patient in the artesunate group developed recurrent colorectal cancer compared to 6 patients in the placebo group. This study has provided the basis for our current work on a larger trial to examine if artesunate given 2 weeks prior to surgery in colorectal cancer patients can reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and improve overall survival. If proven to be of benefit, artesunate may represent a novel treatment strategy in the managementof colorectal cancer with a drug that is safe, affordable and easy to use.

Key references

Gravett AM et al. In vitro study of the anticancer effects of artemisone alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2011;67(3):569–77.

Krishna, S., Bustamante, L., Haynes, R. K., & Staines, H. M. (2008). Artemisinins: their growing importance in medicine. Trends Pharmacol Sci 29, 520–527.

Krishna K, Ganapathi S, Ster IS, Saeed MEM, Cowan M, Finlayson C, Kovacsevics H, Jansen H, Kremsner PG, Efferth T, Kumar D. A Randomised, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Pilot Study of Oral Artesunate Therapy for Colorectal Cancer. EBioMedicine, 2014

Krishna S. Could leading anti-malarial be used as an experimental treatment for bowel cancer? The Conversation, 2014

 

 

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