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Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)has been widelyand successfully used in treating illnesses ranging frominflammation to cancer,and compounds from medicinalherbs and minerals are playing more and more importantroles in taming various kinds of diseases[1],exemplifiedby artemisinin and arsenic trioxide(ATO).Artemisinin(or Qinghaosu in Chinese)is isolated from a plant calledsweet wormwood(Artemisia annua;or Qinghao in Chi-nese)which has been used as an antipyretic remedy formore than 1500 years in China.Artemisinin has impressiveparasiticidal properties in vitro and in vivo,and is now oneof the most important class of antimalarial agents[2,3].ATO is a common,naturally occurring substance whichhad been used in China for a long time as a therapeuticagent for some severe diseases with the ancient philosophyof’treating an evil with a toxic’[4].In 1990s,ATO wasshown to be able to cause partial differentiation at low doseand apoptosis at high concentration of acute promyelocyticleukemia(APL)cells[5],and induce complete remissionin 90% of patients with relapsed or refractory APL[6-8].
Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)has been widelyand successfully used in working illnesses ranging frominflammation to cancer,and compounds from medicinalherbs and minerals are playing more and more importantroles in taming various kinds of diseases[1],exemplifiedby artemisinin and arsenic trioxide(ATO). Artemisinin(or Qinghaosu in Chinese)is isolated from a plant calledsweet wormwood(Artemisia annua;or Qinghao in Chi-nese)which has been used as an antipyretic remedy formore than 1500 years in China.Artemisinin has impressiveparasiticidal properties in vitro and in vivo, And is now one of the most important class of antimalarial agents[2,3].ATO is a common, naturally occurring substance whichhad been used in China for a long time as a therapeuticagent for some severe diseases with the ancient philosophy of’treating an evil with a toxic’[4].In 1990s,ATO wasshown to be able to cause partial differentiation at low doseand apoptosis at high concentration of acute promyelocyticleukemia(APL)cell s[5],and induce complete remissionin 90% of patients with relapsed or refractory APL[6-8].