Piperlongumine
Piperlongumine is a natural product constituent of the fruit of the long pepper, a pepper plant found in southern India and southeast Asia.
Piperlongumine may have anti-cancer properties. In in vitro experiments, it selectively kills some types cancer cells over normal cells. One study in a xenograft mouse model of cancer showed that piperlongumine inhibits the growth of malignant breast tumors and their associated metastases, although this study has been retracted. Its anticancer effects may be due to silencing the GSTP1 and/or the GSTO1 genes. Piperlongumine inhibits the migration of breast cancer cells, an approach for discovering antimetastatic agents. Piperlongumine has been shown to cause cytotoxicity in cancer cells via ferroptosis.
Some piperlongumine derivatives are potent anti-inflammatory agents. The synthesis typically involved a Schotten-Baumann reaction between the acid chloride of 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid with the corresponding amines. Wang et al., evaluated piperlongumine as a novel senolytic agent.
