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

Metabolic Targets in the Crosshairs

“Mitochondria are emerging as idealized targets for anti-cancer drugs. One reason for this is that although these organelles are inherent to all cells, drugs are being developed that selectively target the mitochondria of malignant cells without adversely affecting those of normal cells. Such anticancer drugs destabilize cancer cell mitochondria and these compounds are referred to as mitocans, classified into several groups according to their mode of action and the location or nature of their specific drug targets. Many mitocans selectively interfere with the bioenergetic functions of cancer cell mitochondria, causing major disruptions often associated with ensuing overloads in ROS production leading to the induction of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. This in-depth review describes the bases for the bioenergetic differences found between normal and cancer cell mitochondria, focusing on those essential changes occurring during malignancy that clinically may provide the most effective targets for mitocan development. A common theme emerging is that mitochondrially mediated ROS activation as a trigger for apoptosis offers a powerful basis for cancer therapy. Continued research in this area is likely to identify increasing numbers of novel agents that should prove highly effective against a variety of cancers with preferential toxicity towards malignant tissue, circumventing tumor resistance to the other more established therapeutic anti-cancer approaches”. Follow the links:

Targeting Cancer Metabolism: Dietary and Pharmacologic Interventions

Natural Compounds as Regulators of the Cancer Cell Metabolism

Bioenergetic pathways in tumor mitochondria as targets for cancer therapy and the importance of the ROS-induced apoptotic trigger

Choosing between glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation: A tumor’s dilemma?

Targeting Cell Metabolism In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL); A Viable Therapeutic Approach?

Stalling the Engine of Resistance: Targeting Cancer Metabolism to Overcome Therapeutic Resistance

Is Cancer a Metabolic Disease?

Cancer as a Metabolic Disease

Targeting mitochondria for cancer therapy

Mitochondrial permeability transition pore as a selective target for anti-cancer therapy

Mitochondrial uncoupling and the reprograming of intermediary metabolism in leukemia cells

Mitocans as Novel Agents for Anticancer Therapy: An Overview

Apoptosis: from biology to therapeutic targeting

Metabolic targets in the cross hairs

Phenethyl Isothiocyanate (PEITC)

Watercress has it. So does cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Phenethyl Isothiocyanate (PEITC) is another powerful, natural anti-cancer compound. It works by manipulating redox status in the cell. Follow the links for some of the research on this powerful glutathione inhibitor.

Structure of PEITC

Stromal control of cystine metabolism promotes cancer cell survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Effective elimination of fludarabine-resistant CLL cells by PEITC through a redox-mediated mechanism

Overcoming resistance to histone deacetylase inhibitors in human leukemia with the redox modulating compound β-phenylethyl isothiocyanate

Inhibition of Mitochondrial Respiration and Rapid Depletion of Mitochondrial Glutathione by β-Phenethyl Isothiocyanate: Mechanisms for Anti-Leukemia Activity

Phenethyl Isothiocyanate (PEITC) Regulates Autophagy in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia