Artesunate

Artesunate is a part of the artemisinin group of agents with an IC50 of 90% efficacious at reducing egg production in Schistosoma haematobium infection.(In Vitro):Artesunate is an inhibitor of both STAT-3 and exported protein 1 (EXP1). Artesunate treatment for 24 h causes a significant increase in the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a dose-dependent manner in both cell lines. Moreover, Western blotting shows that the levels ofγ-H2AX are significantly elevated when cancer cells are treated with Artesunate in the higher dose range for 24 h. Artesunate also shows a time-dependent effect on the level of RAD51 in A2780 and HO8910 cells. In two types of non-malignant cells, normal human fibroblasts and immortalized epithelial cells, FTE-187, the level of RAD51 is not altered by Artesunate. In A2780 cells, the level of RAD51 mRNA is indeed decreased by the addition of Artesunate, in a dose-dependent manner. Correspondingly, the promoter activity of RAD51 is significantly inhibited by Artesunate. In contrast, the RAD51 mRNA level in H8910 cells is not affected by Artesunate.(In Vivo):Tumor growth is significantly reduced in the group receiving combined treatment of Artesunate and cisplatin (P<0.01). In comparison, Artesunate alone has no significant effect on the growth of tumor xenografts for both cell lines.