Piperlongumine: a natural plant-based compound that is selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells

Updated with more research links and a source for piperlongumine! This natural compound is apparently effective against so many different cancer types. I’ve only included links to the free research articles, but there are many more behind the paywalls!

Scientists at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered a novel compound that blocks this response to oxidative stress selectively in cancer cells but spares normal cells, with an effectiveness that surpassed a chemotherapy drug currently used to treat breast cancer. Their findings, based on experiments in cell culture and in mice, appear online in Nature on July 13.

The plant-based compound piperlongumine (PL), derived from the fruit of a pepper plant found in southern India and southeast Asia, appears to kill cancer cells by jamming the machinery that dissipates high oxidative stress and the resulting ROS. Normal cells have low levels of ROS, in tune with their more modest metabolism, so they don’t need high levels of the anti-oxidant enzymes that PL stymies once they pass a certain threshold.

Taking out a cancer’s co-dependency:
Novel compound selectively kills cancer cells by blocking their response to oxidative stress

Redox-directed cancer therapeutics: Taurolidine and Piperlongumine as broadly effective antineoplastic agents (Review)

Synthesis, cellular evaluation, and mechanism of action of piperlongumine analogs

Selective killing of cancer cells by a small molecule targeting the stress response to ROS

Piperlongumine Induces Apoptosis and Synergizes with Cisplatin or Paclitaxel in Human Ovarian Cancer Cells

Piperlongumine selectively kills cancer cells and increases cisplatin antitumor activity in head and neck cancer

Targeting Aberrant Glutathione Metabolism to Eradicate Human Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Cells

Piperlongumine combined with vitamin C as a new adjuvant therapy against gastric cancer regulates the ROS–STAT3 pathway

Piperlongumine Induces Cell Cycle Arrest via Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and IKKβ Suppression in Human Breast Cancer Cells

Piperlongumine, a piper alkaloid targets Ras/PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling axis to inhibit tumor cell growth and proliferation in DMH/DSS induced experimental colon cancer

Piperlongumine induces apoptotic and autophagic death of the primary myeloid leukemia cells from patients via activation of ROS-p38/JNK pathways

Inhibition of cancer growth in vitro and in vivo by a novel ROS-modulating agent with ability to eliminate stem-like cancer cells

New Mild and Simple Approach to Isothiocyanates: A Class of Potent Anticancer Agents

Targeting p53-deficient chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo by ROS-mediated mechanism

Effective elimination of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in the stromal microenvironment by a novel drug combination strategy using redox-mediated mechanisms

Long Pepper 500mg/Capsule – Piperlongumine

Methyl Jasmonate – a natural anti-cancer compound with several modes of action

Methyl Jasmonate is a plant stress hormone that has significant anti-cancer properties. So how does MJ work? Let me count the ways. It arrests cell cycle, inhibiting cell growth and proliferation; causes cell death through the intrinsic/extrinsic pro-apoptotic, p53-independent apoptotic, and non-apoptotic (necrosis) pathways; detaches hexokinase from the voltage-dependent anion channel, dissociating glycolytic and mitochondrial functions, decreasing the mitochondrial membrane potential, favoring cytochrome c release and ATP depletion, activating pro-apoptotic and inactivating anti-apoptotic proteins; induces reactive oxygen species mediated responses; stimulates MAPK-stress signaling and redifferentiation in leukemia cells; inhibits overexpressed pro-inflammatory enzymes in cancer cells such as aldo-keto reductase 1 and 5-lipoxygenase; inhibits cell migration and shows antiangiogenic and anti-metastatic activities. The complete lack of toxicity to normal cells and the rapidity by which MJ causes damage to cancer cells, turns MJ into a promising anticancer agent that can be used alone or in combination with other agents.

Follow the links for the relevant research:

MJ modes of action

Methyl Jasmonate: Putative Mechanisms of Action on Cancer Cells Cycle, Metabolism, and Apoptosis

Jasmonates: Novel Anticancer Agents Acting Directly and Selectively on Human Cancer Cell Mitochondria

Methyl jasmonate abolishes the migration, invasion and angiogenesis of gastric cancer cells through down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase 14

Methyl jasmonate Displays In Vitro and In Vivo Activity against Multiple Myeloma Cells

Jasmonates induce nonapoptotic death in high-resistance mutant p53-expressing B-lymphoma cells

Methyl jasmonate down-regulates survivin expression and sensitizes colon carcinoma cells towards TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity

Effects of natural and novel synthetic jasmonates in experimental metastatic melanoma