"The natural products parthenolide and andrographolide exhibit anti-cancer stem cell activity in multiple myeloma." - GreenMedInfo Summary
The natural products parthenolide and andrographolide exhibit anti-cancer stem cell activity in multiple myeloma.
Leuk Lymphoma. 2011 Jun ;52(6):1085-97. Epub 2011 Mar 21. PMID: 21417826
Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy where nearly all patients succumb to a relapse. The current preclinical models of MM target the plasma cells, constituting the bulk of the tumor, leaving the cancer stem cells to trigger a relapse. Utilizing a three-dimensional tissue culture system where cells were grown in extracellular matrix designed to reconstruct human bone marrow, we tested the anti-multiple myeloma cancer stem cell (MM-CSC) potential of two natural product inhibitors of nuclear factorκB (NFκB). Here we show that parthenolide and andrographolide are potent anti-MM-CSC agents. Both natural products demonstrated preferential toxicity toward MM-CSCs over non-tumorigenic MM cells. Addition of the bone marrow stromal compartment abrogated andrographolide activity while having no effect on parthenolide cytoxicity. This is the first report of a natural product with anti-CSC activity in myeloma, suggesting that it has the potential to improve the survival of patients with MM by eliminating the relapse-causing MM-CSCs.