OBJECTIVE Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a common cause of chronic lumbar pain and disability. Conventional therapy approaches include analgesics and spinal surgery. Topical cantharidin applications are used for the treatment of severe chronic lumbar pain in traditional European medicine (TEM). We tested the pain-relieving effect of lumbar cantharidin blisters in a non-randomised controlled pi...

Cantharidin is an active constituent of mylabris, a traditional Chinese medicine, and is a potent and selective inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) that plays an important role in cell cycle control, apoptosis, and cell-fate determination. In the present study, we found that cantharidin repressed the invasive ability of pancreatic cancer cells and downregulated matrix metalloproteinase 2...

The natural phosphoprotein phosphatase inhibitor cantharidin, primarily used for topical treatment of warts, has later been shown to trigger tumor cell apoptosis and is thus considered for the treatment of malignancy. Similar to apoptosis of tumor cells, erythrocytes may undergo eryptosis, a suicidal cell death characterized by cell shrinkage and translocation of cell membrane phosphatidylserin...

OBJECTIVES To assess side effects on Cantharidin sodium and Shenmai injection combined with chemotherapy in treating patients with breast cancer postoperatively. METHOD Patients with breast cancer receiving postoperative chemotherapy were retrospectively collected, and divided into four groups: group A with cantharidin sodium injection combined with chemotherapy; group B with Shenmai injectio...

Narayan, Prakash, Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., and Robert D. Lasley. Phosphatase inhibitor cantharidin blocks adenosine A1 receptor anti-adrenergic effect in rat cardiac myocytes. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 278: H1–H7, 2000.—Experiments were performed to examine whether the protein phosphatase inhibitor cantharidin blocks the antiadrenergic effect of adenosine A1 receptor stimulation. In e...

A single 400-mg oral or intravenous (i.v.) dose of moxifloxacin was given to each of eight healthy male volunteers, and 6 weeks later the dose was administered by the other route. The concentrations of the drug in plasma, cantharidin-induced inflammatory fluid, and urine were measured over the subsequent 24 h. The mean maximum concentrations observed in plasma were 4.98 microg/ml after oral dos...

Cantharidin, a toxic monoterpene secreted by blister beetles, has long been used in traditional Chinese and modern medicine for its unique properties. However, despite widespread use, effects on fish have not studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential therapeutic applications cantharidin examining antioxidant, hemagglutinating, hemolytic, cytotoxic activities at different conc...

Cantharidin is a poisonous substance secreted by blister beetles, including the 'Spanish fly'. Historically, cantharidin was used as an aphrodisiac, vesicant and abortifacient. Symptoms of poisoning include gastrointestinal and genitourinary mucosal irritation along with renal dysfunction. We present the case of a reckless 23-year-old soldier who accepted the challenge of eating a beetle (Berbe...

The blister beetle Mylabris cichorii L. (Coleoptera: Meloidae) is a traditional medicinal insect recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It synthesizes cantharidin, which kills cancer cells efficiently. Only males produce large amounts of cantharidin. Reference genes are required as endogenous controls for the analysis of differential gene expression in M. cichorii. Our study chose 10 genes as c...