Piperlongumine (also called piplartine or piperlongumin) is an amide alkaloid constituent[2] of the fruit of the long pepper (Piper longum), a pepper plant found in southern India and southeast Asia.[3] When extracted, piperlongumine may cause skin, eye or respiratory tract irritation.[2]

Traditional medicine and research

Long peppers have been used in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment.[3][4]

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.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Safety Data Sheet Piperlongumine" (PDF). chemblink.com. October 1, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Piperlongumine". PubChem, US National Library of Medicine. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b Piska, Kamil; Gunia-Krzyżak, Agnieszka; Koczurkiewicz, Paulina; Wójcik-Pszczoła, Katarzyna; Pękala, Elżbieta (2018). "Piperlongumine (piplartine) as a lead compound for anticancer agents – Synthesis and properties of analogues: A mini-review". European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 156: 13–20. doi:10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.06.057. ISSN 0223-5234. PMID 30006159.
  4. ^ "Piperlongumine". US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Research & Technology | TargTex". Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  6. ^ Renascença (2022-02-11). "Português cria hidrogel de pimenta para combater cancro do cérebro - Renascença". Rádio Renascença (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-02-11.