Wormwood derivative could help combat cancer

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• Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.
• The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood plant and has been used in China since ancient times to treat malaria.
• Earlier work by Henry Lai and Narendra Singh, both UW bioengineers, indicated that artemisinin alone could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.
• The new compound appears to vastly improve that deadly selectivity, according to a new study that appeared in a recent issue of the journal Life Sciences.
• "In this study, the new artemisinin compound was 34,000 times more potent in killing the cancer cells as opposed to their normal cousins.
• The compound has been licensed to Chongqing Holley Holdings and Holley Pharmaceuticals, its U.S. subsidiary, to be developed for possible use in humans.
• In the study, researchers exposed human leukemia cells and white blood cells to the compound.
• To facilitate that, cancer cells have inlets on their surface, known as transferrin receptors, in greater numbers than other cells.
• In creating the compound, researchers bound artemisinin to transferrin at the molecular level.
• "We call it a Trojan horse because the cancer cell recognizes transferrin as a natural, harmless protein," Lai said.
• The wormwood extract was used centuries ago in China, but the treatment became lost over time.
• In the 1970s, it was rediscovered as part of an ancient manuscript containing medical remedies, including a recipe that used a wormwood extract.
• The medical community soon discovered that the extract, artemisinin, worked well against malaria, and it is currently used for that purpose throughout Asia and Africa.