February 17 2011 post. Many many thanks to a blog reader who sent me an absolutely fascinating link this morning: http://goo.gl/5rcGR How in the world did I miss this? Hmmm. Well, I did… Luckily, I have some very dedicated blog readers who send me all sorts of interesting things (including some hilarious stuff…) to keep me on my toes!  

Anyway, the link will take you to a paper that was presented at the December 2010 ASH conference. Cardamonin is extracted from a lovely plant called Alpinia katsumadai (see photo), which belongs to the ginger family (hmmm, quelle surprise…NOT!) and is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. 

Cardamonin affects both the STAT3 and NF-kappaB pathways, which, as we know, are crucial for myeloma cell survival and proliferation. It also enhances the anti-MM activity of some conventional drugs used in the treatment of multiple myeloma: vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone, bortezomib and thalidomide. Well, well…

But it also strongly induced cell apoptosis…That means that it killed myeloma cells…all by itself…Yaaaaaay!

Right before the “Conclusions,” you can read about all the things that cardamonin inhibits in myeloma cells. In addition to the two above-mentioned pathways, it also has a strong effect against COX2, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, survivin, VEGF (angiogenesis) etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Wow. It’s like reading about the effect of curcumin on myeloma cells…amazing…

Oh, I just read in PubMed that cardamonin also has antiviral activity. In fact, it STRONGLY inhibits the H1N1 virus, see: http://goo.gl/Bxpvp Well, I definitely need to do more research on this compound…when I have a bit more time…Still, from the little I have read this morning, it all sounds very promising, so much so that I hope this new substance receives a lot of attention! Hmmm, I wonder if it is commercially available? I mean, if it is used in traditional Chinese medicine, it must be…okay, need to check that, too.