It has already been studied re BREAST cancer and now LUNG cancer!!!
Also leukemia, colon cancer and METASTATIC END STAGE melanoma!!!
GREAT STUFF!!!!!!!!!
**************************
1: Oncol Rep. 2005 Dec;14(6):1599-603. Links
Artesunate in the treatment of metastatic uveal melanoma--first
experiences.Berger TG, Dieckmann D, Efferth T, Schultz ES, Funk JO,
Baur A, Schuler G.
Department of Dermatology, University Hospital of Erlangen, Erlangen,
Germany. thomas.ber...@derma.imed.uni-erlangen.de
Artesunate (ART) is a derivative of artemisinin, the active principle
of the Chinese herb Artemisia annua L. Artesunate is approved for the
treatment of multidrug-resistant malaria and has an excellent safety
profile.
It has been shown that Artesunate, apart from its anti-malarial
activity, has cytotoxic effects on a number of human cancer cell
lines, including leukemia, colon cancer and melanoma. We report on
the
first long-term treatment of two cancer patients with ART in
combination with standard chemotherapy.
These patients with metastatic uveal melanoma were treated on a
compassionate-use basis, after standard chemotherapy alone was
ineffective in stopping tumor growth. The therapy-regimen was well
tolerated with no additional side effects other than those caused by
standard chemotherapy alone.
One patient experienced a temporary response after the addition of
ART
to Fotemustine while the disease was progressing under therapy with
Fotemustine alone.
The second patient first experienced a stabilization of the disease
after the addition of ART to Dacarbazine, followed by objective
regressions of splenic and lung metastases.
This patient is still alive 47 months after first diagnosis of stage
IV uveal melanoma, a situation with a median survival of 2-5 months.
Despite the small number of treated patients, ART might be a
promising
adjuvant drug for the treatment of melanoma and possibly other tumors
in combination with standard chemotherapy.
Its good tolerability and lack of serious side effects will
facilitate
prospective randomized trials in the near future.
PMID: 16273263
--------------------
There is no wealth but life.
-John Ruskin