Piperlongumine Explained

Piperlongumine (also called piplartine or piperlongumin) is an amide alkaloid constituent^[1] of the fruit of the long pepper (Piper longum), a pepper plant found in southern India and southeast Asia.^[2] When extracted, piperlongumine may cause skin, eye or respiratory tract irritation.^[1]

Traditional medicine and research

Long peppers have been used in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment.^{[2] [3]}

Targtex, a biotechnology spin-off of the Portuguese Institute for Molecular Biology, developed a piperlongumine hydrogel that is to be applied after the removal of Glioblastoma tumours, with the goal of neutralizing remaining cancer cells. The hydrogel was effective in laboratory and animal studies and is scheduled for Phase I human clinical trials sometime in 2023.^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Piperlongumine . PubChem, US National Library of Medicine . 5 December 2020 . 29 November 2020.
2. Piska . Kamil . Gunia-Krzyżak . Agnieszka . Koczurkiewicz . Paulina . Wójcik-Pszczoła . Katarzyna . Pękala . Elżbieta . Piperlongumine (piplartine) as a lead compound for anticancer agents – Synthesis and properties of analogues: A mini-review . European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 156 . 2018 . 0223-5234 . 10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.06.057 . 13–20. 30006159.
3. Web site: Piperlongumine . US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences . 5 December 2020 . 2020.
4. Web site: Research & Technology TargTex. 2022-02-11. en-US.
5. Web site: Renascença. 2022-02-11. Português cria hidrogel de pimenta para combater cancro do cérebro - Renascença. 2022-02-11. Rádio Renascença. pt-pt.