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Science 25 December 1964:
Vol. 146. no. 3652, pp. 1685 - 1686
DOI: 10.1126/science.146.3652.1685
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Articles

Calotropin, a Cytotoxic Principle Isolated from Asclepias curassavica L

S. Morris Kupchan 1, John R. Knox 1, John E. Kelsey 1, and J. A. Saenz Renauld 2

1 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2 Department of Biology, University of Costa Rica, San Josè

An alcoholic extract of Asclepias curassavica L., a plant widely used in folk medicine for treating cancer and warts, shows cytotoxic activity when tested in vitro against cells derived from human carcinoma of the nasopharynx. Systematic fractionation of the extract has led to isolation and characterization of calotropin as a cytotoxic principle. Calotropin is similar in structure to two cardiac glycosides recently shown to be responsible for the cytotoxicity of Apocynum cannabinum L.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cardiac Glycosides and Distastefulness: Some Observations on the Palatability Spectrum of Butterflies.
S. S. Duffey (1970)
Science 169, 78-79
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Osmotic Pressure Influence in Germination Tests for Antibiosis.
R. C. Anderson and O. L. Loucks (1966)
Science 152, 771-773
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)