Structurally modified natural sesquiterpene lactones constitute effective and less toxic schistosomicidal compounds.

Sesquiterpene lactones are known to be active, but are also known to present high cytotoxicity. In the present work an evaluation of how slight structural alterations affect the cytotoxicity and the schistosomicidal activity of sesquiterpene lactones was undertaken. More specifically, we assessed the activity of budlein-A, a furanoheliangolide sesquiterpene lactone, and four of its derivatives.