Orange Opportunity

Good ideas and solutions to tough problems can often be found in surprising places. Parietin is an important pigment of orange Caloplaca lichens, like the one pictured, and is also found in rhubarb. It’s an unlikely candidate for human medicine, yet researchers have found that treatment with parietin can kill leukaemia cells, without affecting healthy blood cells. It works because the metabolism of cancer cells is slightly different from that of other cells – a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. Parietin interferes with an enzyme named 6PGD, which mediates a key step in the metabolic cycle malignant cells rely on for producing energy, the pentose phosphate pathway. While it doesn’t mean that having extra helpings of rhubarb crumble or chewing on lichen will keep you healthy, research on the effects of parietin could yield new anticancer treatments, targeting 6PGD and the pentose phosphate pathway.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image courtesy of www.aphotofungi.com
• Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory, Atlanta, USA
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Research published in Nature Cell Biology, October 2015