A commercial blend of coffee and the ancient medicinal herb Artemisia annua hope to fight ovarian cancer.
A new clinical trial based at the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Markey Cancer Centre, in the USA is testing whether a concoction of coffee and Artemisia annua extract can prevent ovarian cancer recurrence.
In a previous study from the same centre, researchers have shown that a drug extracted from the Artemisia annua plant, called artesunate, can kill ovarian cancer cells in multiple cell-based model systems.
Ovarian cancer is the eight most common cancer affecting women. In 2016, there were 1,289 new cases of ovarian cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 50%. Hence, new and more effective treatments are needed.
“Artemisia annua and artesunate are showing good activity in the lab across multiple cancer types, even when these cancers are resistant to standard treatments,” said Prof Jill Kolesar, from UK’s College of Pharmacy and administrative director of Markey’s Precision Medicine Clinic, in a press release. “We are excited to bring these promising results out of the lab and into the clinic,” she added.
Coffee to mask bitterness
In this new clinical trial, researchers are using a commercial coffee blend called ArtemiLife™ Inc, to mask the bitter taste of the plant extract. The idea is to design a product that cancer patients will find easy to use.
“After treatment for ovarian cancer, there will frequently be a period of observation without active therapy,” Ueland said. “That’s a trying time for patients, and sometimes it’s difficult to watch and wait. So that’s the setting we chose to study using ArtemiLife coffee as potential maintenance therapy following primary treatment… it’s exciting, and it’s great to have innovative minds at work, really trying to find new solutions to significant problems,” said Dr. Frederick Ueland, a gynecologic oncologist from the Markey Cancer Center in a press release.
Artemisia annua is a plant native to Southeast Asia, where it has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. In fact, the malaria drug artesunate was derived from this plant and multiple studies are testing the efficacy of the drug artesunate against different cancers and even for the treatment of COVID-19.
In the future, the team from Markey Cancer Centre is planning to develop a similar clinical trial, testing the efficacy of this drug-spiked coffee against lung cancer and as a preventative approach for the recurrence of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia.