Cancer cure news, developments: Etoposide - New cancer drug obtained from lab plant
A new study revealed that podophyllotoxin from the Himalayan Mayapple can be reproduced in another plant, and result to potent drugs with less expenses and more stable sources.
As the Himalayan Mayapple is an endangered species and one that grows very slowly, it is difficult to obtain. Plus, the plant can be found as high as 4,000 meters above sea level, making it more difficult for scientists and researchers to get a few pieces for research.
The demand for the endangered plant has become much more popular in the past years as it was discovered to naturally produce podophyllotoxin, a compound in etoposide that is used as a chemotherapy drug for treating cancers that target the ovaries, testes, and lungs.
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Researchers Warren Lau and Elizabeth Sattely of Stanford University have set aside machinery used for producing podophyllotoxin from the poisonous plant and transferred the system into a common laboratory plant that has the ability to produce the chemical.
"What was striking to us is that with a lot of the plant natural products currently used as drugs, we have to grow the plant, then isolate the compound, and that what goes into humans," Sattely said.
The team went on to combine various techniques that determine which enzymes produce proteins that help release podophyllotoxin. The proteins were transferred to Nicotiana benthamiana, a kin to the tobacco plant, which is very much easy to reproduce and is used by many plant biologists.
Results showed that the proteins could indeed produce the special compound for cancer drugs in another plant. However, the researchers are eyeing the production of the drug in yeast in the near future as yeast studies are known to offer a more controlled lab environment while producing the drugs.
According to Tech Times, the study could open doors for new methods of modifying natural processes of producing derivative drugs that do not only prove to be safer but are also more effective compared to the original source.
