Cantharidin, an active component in mylabris, is used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat scabies and hepatoma, but accompanied by hemorrhagic cystitis. Evidence shows that cantharidin induces human bladder carcinoma cell death through COX-2 overexpression in vitro. In TCM, Scutellaria baicalensis is usually used to cure mylabris-induced hematuria. This work was undertaken to determi...

The dried body of Mylabris cichorii is well-known Chinese traditional medicine. The sesquiterpenoid cantharidin, which is secreted mostly by adult male beetles, has recently been used as an anti-cancer drug. However, little is known about the mechanisms of cantharidin biosynthesis. Furthermore, there is currently no genomic or transcriptomic information for M. cichorii. In this study, we perfor...

BACKGROUND Cantharidin is a topical vesicant that causes intraepidermal acantholysis with clinical application that includes the removal of warts, molluscum contagiosum (MC), calluses, and acquired perforating dermatoses. OBJECTIVE To provide a comprehensive literature review of the efficacy and safety of cantharidin in the management of various cutaneous conditions. METHODS A PubMed search...

Although the study of experimental nephritis by physiological methods shows that the most striking effect of cantharidin is injury of the blood vessels, the great abundance of mitotic figures in the tubular epithelium in the stage of repair points to an equally widespread and severe epithelial injury. Caution must therefore be observed in ascribing the physiological disturbances of kidney funct...

The toxic effects of cantharidin from blister beetles and its analogs, including the herbicide endothall, are attributable to their high affinity and specificity for a cantharidin-binding protein (CBP). An ammonium sulfate precipitate of mouse liver cytosol was purified by five chromatographic steps to isolate CBP in 14% yield and > 99% purity as monitored by [3H]cantharidin-binding activity. T...

Lung cancer is the major caused cancer death in Taiwan. However, the treatment of human lung cancer is still unsatisfactory. Cantharidin was isolated from blister beetle and have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine and it has been reported to have biological activity such as anticancer, antibiotic, antivirus and immune-regulated functions. However, there is no available information to s...

Cantharidin, a natural vesicant, inhibits the activity of several PPP family phosphatases, displays antitumor activity, and induces apoptosis in many types of tumor cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the antitumor activity of cantharidin are not clear. Here, dose-response studies confirm a strong correlation between the suppression of phosphatase activity and cell death. Flow c...

1. Cantharidin, an inhibitor of protein phosphatase types 1 (PP1) and 2A (PP2A), increased basal tone of bovine isolated coronary artery rings (CARs) with and without endothelium in a time- and concentration-dependent manner with pEC50 values of about 5.1 and 5.2, respectively, for both preparations. 2. Beta-Adrenoceptor stimulation with isoprenaline (Iso; 0.03-100 microM) or inhibition of phos...

Endothall, an older commercial herbicide, and cantharidin, a natural product from the blister beetle (Epicauta spp.), are close chemical analogues. A comparison of the effect of endothall and cantharidin on plants revealed a similarity in their level of phytotoxicity on both Arabidopsis thaliana and Lemna paucicostata. Cantharidin is a potent inhibitor of animal serine/threonine protein phospha...