Dihydroartemisinin (DHA)

Dihydroartemisinin is a drug used to treat malaria. Dihydroartemisinin is the active metabolite of all artemisinin compounds and is also available as a drug in itself. It is a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin and is widely used as an intermediate in the preparation of other artemisinin-derived antimalarial drugs. It is sold commercially in combination with piperaquine and has been shown to be equivalent to artemether/lumefantrine. Accumulative research suggests that dihydroartemisinin and other artemisinin-based endoperoxide compounds may display activity as experimental cancer chemotherapeutics. Recent pharmacological evidence demonstrates that dihydroartemisinin targets human metastatic melanoma cells with induction of NOXA-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis that occurs downstream of iron-dependent generation of cytotoxic oxidative stress.