Arteether exerts antitumor activity and reduces CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ T-reg cells in vivo.

Background: Chemo-immunotherapy is one of the new achievements for treatment of cancer, by which the success of anti-cancer therapy can be increased. In vitro studies have been shown that Arteether (ARE) induces apoptosis in tumor cells, but not in normal cells.

Objective: To investigate the cytotoxic and immunomodulatory properties of Arteether in-vivo and in-vitro.

Study of immunomodulatory effects of arteether administrated intratumorally.

Recent studies have indicated the profound anti-tumor activity of artemisinin's compounds, among which; arteether is an oil-soluble derivative of artemisinin with an endoperoxide bridge that can induce apoptosis in tumor cells but not in the normal cells. An experiment was carried out on tumor-bearing Balb/c mice to estimate the effects of Arteether on tumor growth and antitumor immune responses. Briefly, 6mg/kg/day of Arteether and diluents were administered to two groups of mice.