A common garden flower has been shown to kill cancer cells, scientists have announced.
A study at Birmingham University discovered the feverfew plant could destroy leukaemia cells.
Feverfew, which comes from the Latin word meaning “fever reducer”, is grown in many UK gardens and has long been thought to have healing properties.
It is sold in many health-food shops as a remedy for migraine and other aches and pains.
Researchers said the parthenolide compound, found in its leaves, could be key to cancer treatments after it was modified to attack tumours.
Prof John Fossey said: “This is important because we have shown a way of producing parthenolide that could make it much more accessible and also because we’ve been able to improve its ‘drug-like’ properties to kill cancer cells.
“It’s a clear demonstration that parthenolide has the potential to progress from the flowerbed into the clinic.”
The parthenolide compound appears to work by increasing levels of reactive oxygen species, causing cancer cells to die.
