Daffodil Compound Targets Brain Cancer

Via computer-assisted techniques, European researchers have identified the eEF1A elongation factor as a therapeutic target in cancer cells.  As such, Robert Kiss, from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), and colleagues have found that narciclasine, a natural compound found in daffodil bulbs, inhibits the proliferation of very aggressive cancer cells, while avoiding adverse effects on normal cells. The team grafted human melanoma brain metastatic cells into the brains of genetically altered mice, and found that the injected mice survived significantly longer when treated with narciclasine, as compared to mice that were left untreated.  Observing that narciclasine markedly reduced cancer cell proliferation and migration, the researchers write that: “At nontoxic doses, narciclasine … significantly improves the survival of mice bearing metastatic apoptosis-resistant melanoma xenografts in their brain.”