The natural products parthenolide and andrographolide exhibit anti-cancer stem cell activity in multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell malignancy where nearly all patients succumb to a relapse. The current preclinical models of MM target the plasma cells, constituting the bulk of the tumor, leaving the cancer stem cells to trigger a relapse. Utilizing a three-dimensional tissue culture system where cells were grown in extracellular matrix designed to reconstruct human bone marrow, we tested the anti-multiple myeloma cancer stem cell (MM-CSC) potential of two natural product inhibitors of nuclear factor κB (NFκB).