Preferred Label : Artemisinin Dimer;
NCIt definition : A sesquiterpene lactone peroxide and dimerized plant product derived from Artemisia
annua L with anti-malarial, anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenic effects. Artemisinin
contains an endoperoxide moiety which forms free radicals when it reacts with iron.
The resultant carbon-based radical can lead to cellular damage and cell death by reacting
with cellular macromolecules such as proteins and membrane lipids. Malaria parasites
contain large amounts of heme-iron, a product from the digestion of hemoglobin. However,
recently it has been suggested that activation of artemisinin inside the parasite
is by ferrous iron. Furthermore, due to their rapid rate of division, cancer cells
require and uptake a large amount of iron to proliferate, therefore they are more
susceptible to the cytotoxic effect of artemisinin than non-cancerous cells. The dimer
configuration has been shown to increase compound stability and reduce general toxicity.;
NSC code : 724910;
Origin ID : C60769;
UMLS CUI : C1879739;
Semantic type(s)
- concept_is_in_subset
- has_target
