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It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but is grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant, and now has a pantropical distribution. It is a source of the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, used to treat cancer. [3] It was formerly included in the genus Vinca as Vinca rosea.
The Madagascan periwinkle Catharanthus roseus L. is the source for a number of important natural products, [1] including catharanthine and vindoline [2] and the vinca alkaloids it produces from them: leurosine and the chemotherapy agents vinblastine [3] and vincristine, [4] all of which can be obtained from the plant.
Vinca alkaloids were originally manufactured by extracting them from Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle). [1] Podophyllum spp. Two chemotherapy drugs, etoposide and teniposide, are synthetic chemical compounds similar in chemical structure to the toxin podophyllotoxin which is found in Podophyllum peltatum (May Apple). [1] Taxus brevifolia
There are eight known species. Seven are endemic to Madagascar, [4] though one, C. roseus, is widely naturalized around the world. [2] [5] The eighth species, C. pusillus, is native to India and Sri Lanka. [6] The name Catharanthus comes from the Greek for "pure flower". [7] These are perennial herbs with oppositely or almost oppositely ...
In Japan, the government has approved the use of some medicinal mushrooms like Trametes versicolor, to counteract depression of the immune system in people undergoing chemotherapy. [80] Trilaciclib is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 approved for the prevention of myelosuppression caused by chemotherapy. The drug is given before ...
Vinca difformis in habitat, Cáceres, Spain. Vinca plants are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender trailing stems 1–2 m (3 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft) long but not growing more than 20–70 cm (8– 27 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely.
The diverse flora of Madagascar holds potential for natural product research and drug production on an industrial scale; the Madagascar periwinkle (Cataranthus roseus), a source of alkaloids used in the treatment of different cancers, is a famous example.
The Eli Lilly natural products group found that alkaloids of the Madagascar periwinkle (Vinca rosea), originally discovered in a screen for anti-diabetic drugs, blocked proliferation of tumour cells. The antitumour effect of the vinca alkaloids (e.g. vincristine ) was later shown to be due to their ability to inhibit microtubule polymerization ...