The active ingredient in feverfew is parthenolide. Below is an excerpt from an article about research at U. of Rochester Med Center.
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“In laboratory experiments, they also compared how human leukemia stem cells reacted to parthenolide, versus a common chemotherapy drug called cytarabine. The result: parthenolide selectively killed the leukemia cells while sparing the normal cells better than cytarabine.
Scientists believe parthenolide might also make cancer more sensitive to other anti-tumor agents. And, the UR group was able to demonstrate the molecular pathways that allow parthenolide to cause apoptosis, or cancer cell death, increasing the chances of developing a new therapy.
Jordan is director of the Translational Research for Hematologic Malignancies program at the Wilmot Cancer Center and associate professor of Medicine and Biomedical Genetics. Guzman is senior instructor of hematology/oncology.
Other co-investigators include: Randall Rossi, associate scientist; Lilliana Karnischky, laboratory technician; Xiaojie Li, technical associate; Derick Peterson, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics, and Dianna Howard, M.D., at the University of Kentucky Medical Center.”
Contact: Leslie White
leslie_white@urmc.rochester.edu
585-273-1119
University of Rochester Medical Center
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