Synthetic Derivatives of Artemisinin and Cancer.

Abstract

Curing of cancer or at least prolonging the life of a cancer patient can be done by the development of anticancer drugs which can kill the cancer cells selectively. Artemisinin (ART), a natural endoperoxide containing sesquiterpene lactone, is a naturally occurring antimalarial with potent anticancer properties. Despite high efficacy, the therapeutic value of ART is limited by its low solubility in oil and water, short half-life after administration, poor bioavailability etc. In order to avoid these limitations, several derivatives of artemisinin have been synthesized which are more active than the parent artemisinin molecule and also exhibit enhanced anticancer activity in nano-to-micro molar range. Thus, ART derivatives can be a good treatment option for cancer treatment. However, further research is needed in order to develop better ART derivatives with greater efficacies. Again, the use of ART derivatives in cancer treatment must be addressed by better understanding of the mechanism of action of the derivatives which will help to increase the clinical effectiveness of the derivatives. The aim of this review paper is to provide an overview about ART, its synthetic derivatives and their anticancer properties.