ArticleBiomedicines2023
The Antimalarial Drug Artesunate Mediates Selective Cytotoxicity by Upregulating HO-1 in Melanoma Cells.
Article in Biomedicines, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combination of artesunate and ruxolitinib suppresses T cell leukemia/lymphoma proliferation via the JAK STAT pathway.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Studies on the Critical Therapeutic Role of Artemisinin and its Derivatives in Melanoma: a Review of Preclinical Evidence.Current treatment options in oncology · 2025Review
- A novel strategy to target metabolic dependencies in acute myeloid leukemia.Cell death & disease · 2025Article
- Artesunate induces melanoma cell ferroptosis and augments antitumor immunity through targeting Ido1.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Despite great efforts to develop new therapeutic strategies to combat melanoma, the prognosis remains rather poor. Artesunate (ART) is an antimalarial drug displaying anti-cancer effects in vitro and in vivo. In this in vitro study, we investigated the selectivity of ART on melanoma cells. Furthermore, we aimed to further elucidate the mechanism of the drug with a focus on the role of iron, the induction of oxidative stress and the implication of the enzyme heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1). ART treatment decreased the cell viability of A375 melanoma cells while it did not affect the viability of normal human dermal fibroblasts, used as a model for normal (healthy) cells. ART's toxicity was shown to be dependent on intracellular iron and the drug induced high levels of oxidative stress as well as upregulation of HO-1. Melanoma cells deficient in HO-1 or treated with a HO-1 inhibitor were less sensitive towards ART. Taken together, our study demonstrates that ART induces oxidative stress resulting in the upregulation of HO-1 in melanoma cells, which subsequently triggers the effect of ART's own toxicity. This new finding that HO-1 is involved in ART-mediated toxicity may open up new perspectives in cancer therapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.