Fwd: [wiseweeds] Mayapples' anticancer possibility (More info)

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>10. American Mayapple Yields Anti-Cancer Extract

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>----

> By Hank Becker

>WASHINGTON, July 17, Agricultural Research Service, USDA -- A common weed

>called mayapple may offer an alternative to an Asian plant that's been

>harvested almost to extinction for an anti-cancer extract, Agricultural

>Research Service administrator Floyd Horn announced today.

> " Besides providing a dependable, long-term supply of the anti-cancer drug,

>the new extraction method -- if adopted -- could turn the American mayapple

>into a new alternative crop for U.S. growers, " Horn said. ARS and

>University

>of Mississippi scientists developed the new extraction method.

>The near-extinct Asian plant, Podophyllyum emodi, is a cousin of the

>mayapple weed found in the United States. The Asian plant makes a compound

>called podophyllotoxin, used in manufacturing the cancer drug etoposide,

>the

>active ingredient in a drug used for treating lung and testicular cancer.

>In

>chemotherapy, the drug has been shown to inhibit the activity of an enzyme

>essential for the replication of cancer cells, preventing their spread.

>But shrinking supplies of the P. emodi plant in India have resulted in

>export restrictions. Since synthesis of etoposide from simple building

>blocks requires a costly multi step process, many attempts have been made

>to

>develop alternative natural sources of this compound.

>Working with University of Mississippi researchers, plant physiologists

>Camilo Canel and Frank Dayan with the ARS Natural Products Utilization

>Research Unit at Oxford, Miss., discovered and developed the new method of

>extracting podophyllotoxin. With it, they've shown that leaves of the

>mayapple, P. peltatum, can yield a readily available, plentiful and

>renewable source of stored podophyllotoxins.

>Given the acute toxicity of podophyllotoxin, the scientists think that both

>species produce the compound as a form of protection from insects and other

>herbivores.

>The ARS-Mississippi team found an efficient way to extract the compound,

>which the mayapple stores in the form of glucosides. The plant adds a

>glucose molecule to podophyllotoxins so the compound can be safely stored

>until the plant is attacked. The key to their extraction is removing

>podophyllotoxin's " safety-seal. "

>The new extraction method is fast, efficient and inexpensive. The use of

>mayapple leaves constitutes a sustainable procedure for providing a

>dependable, long-term supply of podophyllotoxin.

>The team has filled a joint patent on the new technology. Talks are in

>progress with pharmaceutical firms to license it to make this drug more

>available in the marketplace.

>The information in this post should not replace advice given by your

>medical practitioner.

>

 

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