Artemisinin is a compound isolated from a species of wormwood, Artemisia annua. It is also known as “Sweet Annie”. It reacts with iron to form toxic free radicals which accumulate inside cancer cells and help to destroy them. Artemesinin is selectively more toxic to cancer cells than normal cells because cancer cells contain significantly more intracellular free iron. Artemisinin can thus selectively kill cancer cells under conditions that increase intracellular iron concentrations. Since it is relatively easy to increase the iron content inside cancer cells, administration of artemisinin-like drugs and intracellular iron-enhancing compounds may be a simple, effective, and economical treatment for cancer.
Research shows that a derivative of artemesia called artesunate causes a dose-dependent decrease in number of cancer cells. Artesunate was able to stop cell division at all phases of the breast cancer cell cycle.
Artemesinin may be especially effective against estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer. Breast cancer cells can express two primary types of estrogen receptors known as estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ERbeta. ER alpha is more commonly expressed in breast cancer cells, while ER beta is not. Treatment of breast cancer cells in the lab with artemisinin blocked estrogen-stimulated cell cycle growth. Artemisinin strongly decreased ERalpha protein without altering expression or activity of ERbeta. Artemisinin changes human breast cancer cells from expressing a high ERalpha:ERbeta ratio (which would cause more growth) to a condition in which ERbeta predominates, which decreases breast cancer growth.
In a study on rats that were given a single oral dose (50mg/kg) of the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), known to cause multiple breast tumors, artemesinin strongly reduced cancer development. Starting from the day immediately after DMBA administration, one group of rats was fed a powdered rat-chow containing 0.02% artemisinin, whereas a control group was fed plain powdered food. For 40 weeks, both groups of rats were monitored for breast tumors. Oral artemisinin significantly delayed (P<.002) and in some animals prevented (57% of artemisinin-fed versus 96% of the controls developed tumors, P<.01) breast cancer development in the monitoring period. In addition, breast tumors in artemisinin-fed rats were significantly fewer (P<.002) and smaller in size (P<.05) when compared with controls. Since artemisinin is a relatively safe compound that causes no known side effects even at high oral doses, the present data indicate that artemisinin may be a potent cancer-chemoprevention agent.
One of the most reliable sources of artemesinin is from the company Allergy Research Group. Their Artemesinin and PhytoArtemesinin contain 200 mg artemesinin per 2 capsules. The PhytoArtemesinin also contains Gleditsia, another anti-cancer herb. The company recommends 1-4 capsules daily.
