BioEngineering

Artemisinin

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Department of Bioengineering and University of Washington do not advocate the use of artemisinin to treat cancer. The US Food and Drug Administration does not currently approve the use of artemisinin for the treatment of any disease. Research on artemisinin and cancer is still in very early stages. Human use of artemisinin should be considered experimental and taking artemisinin or any other drug should be approached with extreme caution and responsibility.

ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY NEW THERAPY OR TREATMENT

Below is a list of publications covering the research being done by UW and other institutions on artemisinin and cancer. The list is organized into two categories: publications related to the effects of artemisinin and its analogs on cancer and artemisinin pharmacology and pharmacokinetics. You may find them useful when consulting with your personal physician. We have also compiled a comprehensive list of artemisinin-related articles (more than 350 publications) that you may also find useful.

Publications Relating to Effects of Artemisinin and its Analogs on Cancer

  1. Beekman AC, Barentsen AR, Woerdenbag HJ, et al: Stereochemistry-dependent cytotoxicity of some artemisinin derivatives. J Nat Prod 60:325-330, 1997.
  2. Beekman AC, Wierenga PK, Woerdenbag HJ, et al: Artemisinin-derived sesquiterpene lactones as potential antitumour compounds: cytotoxic action against bone marrow and tumour cells. Planta Med 64:615-619, 1998.
  3. Beekman AC, Woerdenbag HJ, Van Uden W, et al: Stability of artemisinin in aqueous environments: impact on its cytotoxic action to Ehrlich ascites tumour cells. J Pharm Pharmacol 49:1254-1258, 1997.
  4. Bhisutthibhan J, Philbert MA, Fujioka H, Aikawa M, Meshnick SR: The Plasmodium falciparum translationally controlled tumor protein: subcellular localization and calcium binding. Eur J Cell Biol 78:665-670, 1999.
  5. Chen HH, Zhou HJ, Fang X: Inhibition of human cancer cell line growth and human umbilical vein endothelial cell angiogenesis by artemisinin derivatives in vitro." Pharmacol Res 48: 231-236, 2003.
  6. Efferth T, Dunstan H, Sauerbrey A, et al: The anti-malarial artesunate is also active against cancer. Int J Oncol 18:767-773, 2001.
  7. Efferth T, Davey M, Olbrich A, et al.: Activity of drugs from traditional Chinese medicine toward sensitive and MDR1- or MDR1-overexpressing multidrug-resistant human CCRF-CEM leukemia cells. Blood Cells, Molecules, and Diseases 28:160-168, 2002.
  8. Efferth T, Olbrich A, Bauer R: mRNA expression profiles for the response of human tumor cell lines to the antimalarial drugs artesunate, arteether, and artemether. Biochem Pharmacol 64:617-623, 2002.
  9. Fishwick J, Edwards G, Ward SA, et al: Binding of dihydroartemisinin to differentiating neuroblastoma cells and rat cortical homogenate. Neurotoxicology 19:405-412, 1998.
  10. Fishwick J, Edwards G, Ward SA, et al: Morphological and immunocytochemical effects of dihydroartemisinin on differentiating NB2a neuroblastoma cells. Neurotoxicology 19:393-403, 1998.
  11. Hu YQ, Tan RX, Chu MY, et al: Apoptosis in human hepatoma cell line SMMC-7721 induced by water-soluble macromolecular components of Artemisia capillaris Thunberg. Jpn J Cancer Res 91:113-117, 2000.
  12. Lai H, Singh NP: Selective cancer cell cytotoxicity from exposure to dihydroartemisinin and holotransferrin. Cancer Lett 91:41-46, 1995.
  13. Lee CH, Hong H, Shin J, et al.: NMR studies on novel antitumor drug candidates, deoxoartemisinin and carboxypropyldeoxoartemisinin. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 274:359-369, 2000.
  14. Li Y, Shan F, Wu JM, et al: Novel antitumor artemisinin derivatives targeting G1 phase of the cell cycle. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 11:5-8, 2001.
  15. McLean WG, Ward SA: In vitro neurotoxicity of artemisinin derivatives. Med Trop (Mars) 58:28-31, 1998.
  16. Moore JC, Lai H, Li JR, et al: Oral administration of dihydroartemisinin and ferrous sulfate retarded implanted fibrosarcoma growth in the rat. Cancer Lett 98:83-87, 1995.
  17. Mukanganyama S, Widersten M, Naik YS, et al: Inhibition of glutathione S-transferases by antimalarial drugs possible implications for circumventing anticancer drug resistance. Int J Cancer 97:700-705, 2002.
  18. Oh S, Jeong IH, Shin WS, Lee S: Growth inhibition activity of thioacetal artemisinin derivatives against human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 3(21):3665-3668, 2003.
  19. Posner GH, Ploypradith P, Parker MH, et al: Antimalarial, antiproliferative, and antitumor activities of artemisinin-derived, chemically robust, trioxane dimers. J Med Chem 42:4275-4280, 1999.
  20. Reungpatthanapong P, Mankhetkorn S: Modulation of multidrug resistance by artemisinin, artesunate and dihydroartemisinin in K562/adr and GLC/adr resistant cell lines. Biol Pharm Bull 25:1555-1561, 2002.
  21. Sadava D, Phillips T, Lin C, et al: Transferrin overcomes drug resistance to artemisinin in human small-cell lung carcinoma cells. Cancer Lett 179:151-156, 2002.
  22. Shaikenov TE, Adekenov SM, Williams RM, et al: Arglabin-DMA, a plant derived sesquiterpene, inhibits farnesyltransferase. Oncol Rep 8:173-179, 2001.
  23. Singh NP, Lai H: Selective toxicity of dihydroartemisinin and holotransferrin toward human breast cancer cells. Life Sci 70:49-56, 2001.
  24. Singh NP, Verma KB: Case report of a laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with artesunate. Arch Oncol 10:279-280, 2002.
  25. Smith SL, Maggs JL, Edwards G, et al: The role of iron in neurotoxicity: a study of novel antimalarial drugs. Neurotoxicology 19:557-559, 1998.
  26. Sun WC, Han JX, Yang WY, et al: [Antitumor activities of 4 derivatives of artemisic acid and artemisinin B in vitro]. Zhongguo Yao Li Xue Bao 13:541-543, 1992.
  27. Woerdenbag HJ, Merfort I, Passreiter CM, et al: Cytotoxicity of flavonoids and sesquiterpene lactones from Arnica species against the GLC4 and the COLO 320 cell lines. Planta Med 60:434-437, 1994.
  28. Woerdenbag HJ, Moskal TA, Pras N, et al: Cytotoxicity of artemisinin-related endoperoxides to Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. J Nat Prod 56:849-856, 1993.
  29. Wu JM, Shan F, Wu GS, et al: Synthesis and cytotoxicity of artemisinin derivatives containing cyanoarylmethyl group. Eur J Med Chem 36:469-479, 2001.
  30. Zheng GQ: Cytotoxic terpenoids and flavonoids from Artemisia annua. Planta Med 60:54-57, 1994.

Artemisinin Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics

  1. Dhingra V, Rao KV, Narasu NL: Current status of artemisinin and its derivatives as antimalarial drugs. Life Sci 66:279-300, 2000.
  2. Li Y, Wu YL: An over four millennium story behind qinghaosu (artemisinin--a fantastic antimalarial drug from a traditional chinese herb). Curr Med Chem 10(21):2197-2230, 2003.
  3. Navaratnam V, Mansor SM, Sit NW, et al: Pharmacokinetics of artemisinin-type compounds. Clin Pharmacokinet 39:255-270, 2000.