BETTER treatments for leukaemia could be on the horizon thanks to the feverfew, a daisy-like plant traditionally used to treat migraines and arthritis.
The plant yields a substance that kills the rogue stem cells that give rise to all leukaemia cells. Because these stem cells divide slowly, they often survive conventional treatments. But parthenolide, the substance found in feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium, targets the leukaemia stem cells while leaving normal blood stem cells unharmed (Blood, DOI: 10.1182/blood-2004-10-4135).
鈥淚t appears to push the cancer stem cells more readily towards cell death,鈥� says Craig Jordan of the University of Rochester in New York, a member of the team that carried out the tests.
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Jordan stresses there is no point in people with leukaemia taking feverfew remedies, because they contain very little parthenolide and because it is not very soluble in water. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no use in cancer patients, and it is important to make that clear,鈥� he says.
Instead, in collaboration with Dianna Howard of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the team is testing a more soluble synthetic version. The idea is that it could be given to patients alongside conventional treatments. Animal studies suggest it is safe, and human trials might begin within a year.
