Chemistry hidden in flowers that kill cancer cells

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have shown that it was possible to produce a compound with anticancer properties directly from feverfew, a common flowering garden plant.

The team was able to extract the compound from the flowers and modify it so that it could be used to destroy the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells in the laboratory.

Feverfew is grown in many gardens in the United Kingdom and is also sold in health food stores as a cure for migraine and other aches and pains.

The compound that the Birmingham team was looking for called parthenolide and was identified by scientists as having anticancer properties several years ago. Although commercially available, it is extremely expensive with mediocre "drug" properties and has not progressed beyond basic research.

The Birmingham team was able to demonstrate a method not only to produce parthenolide directly from plants, but also to modify it to produce a number of compounds that killed cancer cells in in vitro experiments. The particular properties of these compounds make them much more promising as drugs that can be used clinically.

The parthenolide compound appears to act by increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells. Cancer cells already have higher levels of these unstable molecules and the effect of parthenolide is to increase their levels to a critical point, resulting in cell death.

The study, published in medchemcomm, was a multidisciplinary program bringing together researchers from the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Studies at the University, the School of Chemistry and drug discovery service companies, Sygnature Discovery and Apconix. The Winterbourne Botanic Garden at the University of Birmingham has supervised the cultivation of plants in sufficient volume to allow drug testing.

It was launched by Dr. Angelo Agathanggelou, of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Studies, which is studying new methods of treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a type of cancer that usually affects older people.

Dr. Agathanggelou explains: "There are several effective treatments for CLL, but after a while, some patients' disease becomes resistant, and we wanted to know more about the potential of parthenolide. School of Chemistry, we've been able to demonstrate that this compound was very promising and could offer other treatment options to patients with CLL. "

Professor John Fossey, of the University's School of Chemistry, said, "This research is important, not only because we have shown a way to produce parthenolide that could make it much more accessible to people. researchers, but also because we have been able to "medicated" to kill cancer cells.This is a clear demonstration that parthenolide has the potential to pbad from the flowerbed to the clinic. "

Lee Hale, Winterbourne Botanical Garden Manager and Abigail Gulliver, Winterbourne Horticultural Consultant, oversaw the cultivation and harvesting of the plants.

Hale explains: "After testing of related Asteraceae species, it soon became apparent that Tanacetum parthenium – feverfew – provided the optimal levels of parthenolide."

"Feverfew is a short-lived perennial that we have sown annually for testing to ensure continuity of supply.This was necessary because winter could lead to plant losses, "adds Abigail Gulliver.