{"id":14639,"date":"2012-12-26T18:12:43","date_gmt":"2012-12-26T18:12:43","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-12-26T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T18:12:47","slug":"Secrets-of-ancient-Chinese-medicinal-herb-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=14639","title":{"rendered":"Secrets of ancient Chinese medicinal herb revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists in the United States offered a molecular-level explanation for how a Chinese herbal medicine used for more than 2,000 years tackles fever and eases malaria.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The herb is an extract of the root of a flowering plant called blue evergreen hydrangea, known in Chinese as Chang Shan and in Latin as Dichroa Febrifuga Lour.<\/p>\n

Chang Shan’s use dates back to the Han dynasty of 206 BC to 220 AD, according to ancient documents recording Chinese oral traditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2009, researchers made insights into its active ingredient, febrifuginone, which can be pharmaceutically made as a molecule called halofuginone.<\/p>\n

They found that halofuginone prevented production of rogue Th17 immune cells which attack healthy cells, causing inflammation that leads to fever.<\/p>\n

A study published in the journal Nature on Sunday found halofuginone works by hampering production of proteins for making “bad” Th17 cells, but not the “good” ones.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Specifically, it blocks molecules called transfer RNA (tRNA), whose job is to assemble a protein bit by bit, in line with the DNA code written in the gene.<\/p>\n

As for malaria, halofuginone appears to interfere with the same protein-assembly process that enables malaria parasites to live in the blood, the study said.<\/p>\n

“Our new results solved a mystery that has puzzled people about the mechanism that has been used to treat fever from a malaria infection going back probably 2,000 years or more,” said Paul Schimmel, who headed the team at the Scripps Research Institute in California.<\/p>\n

Halofuginone has been tested in small-scale human trials to treat cancer and muscular dystrophy.<\/strong> Drug engineers also eye it as a potential tool for combatting inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis, which are also autoimmune diseases.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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