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Byzantium
Published in Michael J. O’Dowd, The History of Medications for Women, 2020
Powdered cantharides was gray-brown in color with shiny green particles and had a strong disagreeable odor. The active principle, cantharidin, was found to be a lactone. When taken internally it acted as a very powerful irritant. Cantharidin plasters contained 0.2% of the lactone and were employed to cause blistering and redness in restricted areas of the skin. Application of cantharidin to the mucus membranes caused intense irritation, pain and blistering. Cantharides owed its reputation as an aphrodisiac to profound irritation of the urethra caused by the passage of urine containing dissolved cantharidin (Lewis, 1964). Cantharidin was found to be highly toxic and the fatal dose was less than 60 mg. It was nephrotoxic and had multiple constitutional effects. Cantharides was prescribed to remove skin lesions such as wans and was in common medicinal use until the mid-twentieth century.
Warts
Published in Nilton Di Chiacchio, Antonella Tosti, Therapies for Nail Disorders, 2020
Sonali Nanda, Rachel Fayne, Martin N. Zaiac
The efficacy of cantharidin has been reported as 80%.26 In 1960, 40 patients affected with digital and periungual warts were treated with cantharidin. Only 1 of 29 digital warts recurred and none of the periungual warts recurred after treatment.27 A more recent trial by Kacar and colleagues determined that cantharidin was particularly useful in treating long-standing warts and required less treatments than cryotherapy in order to achieve clearance.28 The painless application and minimal side effects of cantharidin make it one of the best options of treatment for children.
Clinician’s Guide to Common Arthropod Bites and Stings *
Published in Gail Miriam Moraru, Jerome Goddard, The Goddard Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance, Seventh Edition, 2019
Gail Miriam Moraru, Jerome Goddard
Blister beetles do not bite or sting, but contain vessicating fluid in their hemolymph which is released when handled or crushed. The toxins, pederin or cantharidin, depending on the species, cause exfoliation and a superficial epidermal blister in the skin often in a linear shape denoting external contact with the insect body.9,15 The lesion may be associated with burning and pruritus, and usually evolves with crusting over 7 days, leaving a macular post-inflammatory erythema. Interestingly, health care providers utilize an extract from blister beetles called cantharidin. Application of cantharidin allows controlled damage of skin infected with viruses such as molluscum contagiousum or human papilloma virus.
Our experience using 1064 nm Nd:YAG in palmoplantar warts
Published in Journal of Cosmetic and Laser Therapy, 2022
Hai Thi Thu Le, Cuong Truong Van, Minh Nguyen Thi, Firas Al-Niaimi
Currently, several treatment modalities are available to treat cutaneous warts including abrasive methods (physical methods: cryotherapy, curettage, surgery, carbon dioxide laser; chemical agents: salicylic acid, formic acid, monochloroacetic acid, and cantharidin) or non-abrasive methods (antimitotic agents: 5-fluorouracil, bleomycin; antiviral agents such as cidofovir; immunotherapy: interferon, imiquimod, and contact allergens). A compound topical product comprising 1% cantharidin, 5% podophyllotoxin, and 30% salicylic acid (CPS) has also been shown to be effective in recalcitrant plantar warts (5). These methods, however, have been associated with pain, scarring, and prolonged recovery (1,6). Different types of lasers have been evaluated for treatment of warts. Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser is considered a good ablative treatment, producing cure rates of up to 75% in resistant common warts (7). Among non-ablative modalities, PDL can be used first-line; PDL carried the advantages of higher safety, less pain, and greater compliance. However, it required more treatment sessions compared with Nd:YAG laser to achieve complete clearance of the lesions (8). Recently, alternative other types of laser treatments for warts have been reported, such as using the non-ablative photothermal effect of the long-pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser (LPNYL) to destroy the HPV virus and cause hemocoagulation in the target diseased tissue. This latter approach has attracted attention as being safe and effective for the treatment of warts.
Dietary Phytochemicals as a Potential Source for Targeting Cancer Stem Cells
Published in Cancer Investigation, 2021
Prasath Manogaran, Devan Umapathy, Manochitra Karthikeyan, Karthikkumar Venkatachalam, Anbu Singaravelu
Cantharidin (CTD) is a terpenoid, isolated from Blister Beetles (Chinese traditional herb), used for the treatment of Molluscum contagiosum and warts since 1950 (70). CTD was one of the first pharmaco active natural products reported and used (71) and was long considered a sexual stimulant (71–74), also decreases the viability of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells (HCSCs) dose-dependently. Cantharidin treatment reserved the self-renewal ability of the HCSCs and the expression of β-catenin and cyclin D1. Furthermore, cantharid in significantly arrests the cell cycle at G2/M phase and increases the expression of H2AX, Myt1, cyclin A2, cyclin B1, p53, and cdc2 (Tyr15) in HCSCs (75). Wang et al., (2015) have found that cantharidin treatment inhibits the stemness of pancreatic cancer cells (CD44, CD24, and EPCAM) by modulating the β-catenin pathway and further, this molecule enhances the anticancer potential of gemcitabine and erlotinib in pancreatic cancer stem cells (76) (Figure 5).
In-vivo anti-tumor activity of a novel poloxamer-based thermosensitive in situ gel for sustained delivery of norcantharidin
Published in Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 2019
Ming-Hua Xie, Min Ge, Jia-Bei Peng, Xiao-Rui Jiang, Ding-Sheng Wang, Li-Qiang Ji, Yin Ying, Zeng Wang
Cantharidin is extracted from blister beetles (Mylabris phalerata Pall) and has been used for medicinal purposes in China for many years. However, the clinical application of cantharidin has been restricted due to its significant side effects, such as renal toxicity. Recently, norcantharidin (NCTD), a derivative of cantharidin, has been synthesized by the removal of two methyl groups. NCTD is an efficacious anti-tumor drug, and renal toxicity of this drug is significantly reduced by its formulation. Researchers have shown that NCTD has the potential to treat primary hepatocellular carcinoma, and can also benefit the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer, cardiac cancer, hepatitis, ovarian cancer and psoriasis (Chen et al. 2013; Chu et al. 2013; Deng et al. 2013; Dessì et al. 2013). Indeed, clinical studies have, to date, been promising (Gandra et al. 2015; Li et al. 2013; Lin et al. 2015; Liu et al. 2016; Lu et al. 2015). Nevertheless, the clinical application of NCTD is still restricted due to fast elimination, leading to frequent injections and low patient compliance. Therefore, in order to enhance anti-tumor activity, a novel formulation of NCTD with slow release and specific targeting characteristics is of imminent need (Ma et al. 2014).