British researchers have discovered one of the secrets of a traditional Chinese medicine based on an orange caterpillar fungus and are touting its potential in the fight against cancer.
The mechanism that triggers the anti-inflammatory effects and other health benefits within the compound called cordycepin was not understood in Western medicine – until now.
New research into the chemical produced by the caterpillar fungus has revealed how it interacts with genes to interrupt cell growth signals that lead to uncontrolled cancer growth.
Learning how it interrupts cell growth signals that are overactive in cancer is an important step toward developing new drugs that could be less damaging to healthy tissue than many available treatments.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham School of Pharmacy have investigated how parasitic fungi could affect various diseases. published his research in the journal FEBS Lettres.
Cordycepin, the compound produced by the fungus Cordyceps militaris that infects caterpillars and is sold as a health supplementhas shown promise as an anticancer drug in a series of studies, but until now its action has been unclear.
Using high-throughput techniques, the research team measured the effects of cordycepin on the activity of thousands of genes in several cell lines. The research compared the effects of cordycepin with those of other treatments filed in databases and showed that it works by acting on the pathways inducing cell growth in all cases.
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By studying what happens to cordycepin inside the cell, the team confirmed that cordycepin is converted to cordycepin triphosphate, an analogue of the cell’s energy carrier, ATP. Cordycepin triphosphate has been shown to be the likely cause of the effects on cell growth, and therefore the molecule that can directly affect cancer cells.
“We have been researching the effects of cordycepin on various diseases for several years, and with each step we are getting closer to understanding how it could be used as an effective treatment.” said Dr Cornelia de Moor at the University’s School of Pharmacy, who led the research.
“One of the exciting things that happened is that it became easier and cheaper to do these very large experiments, which allowed us to look at thousands of genes at the same time.
The data confirms that cordycepin is an excellent starting point for new cancer drugs and explains its beneficial effects.
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For example, cordycepin derivatives could aim to produce the triphosphate form of the drug to have the same effect. Furthermore, the data will help monitor the effects of cordycepin in patients, as our data indicates particular genes whose activity reliably responds to cordycepin, which could for example be measured in blood cells.
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