Peter Houghton tells Joanne Thomson that there is still much to be learnt from traditional medicine.

Peter Houghton is Professor in Pharmacognosy in the department of pharmacy at Kings College London. His research areas include substances from plants of potential use in treating central nervous system degenerative disease, cancer and for wound healing. He is also interested in the investigation of herbal medicines. Peter joined the Natural Product Reports editorial board at the beginning of 2008.

 

What inspired you to become a scientist? 

I have always been intrigued by the amazing variety in nature and wondered how things work and how they were formed. I was lucky enough to grow up in the Cotswolds and my father, who was a pharmacist, pointed out many of the wild plants growing there. I guess that is where my particular interest started.  

However, I like exploring in all sorts of ways and enjoy working out connections between apparently unrelated facts and how we, as humans, have exploited these. I think that it is very important for us scientists not to lose a sense of wonder at the incredible complexity and beauty of the world around us and the ingenuity and skill of what humans can do.

You are interested in ethnopharmacology. Could you explain what this is and why it is important in the development of new drugs? 

Ethnopharmacology is the scientific study of traditional medicines, the materials used for medicinal, pharmaceutical and toxicological purposes by different human cultures and societies. Many of these materials consist of plants or fungi and their biological activity is, of course, due to the chemical compounds contained in them. Many important drugs like morphine, digoxin and reserpine came into use because the plants containing them were known as poisons and used as medicines. In addition, active compounds can serve as lead molecules such as the local anaesthetics derived from cocaine and the muscle relaxants based on curare alkaloids. The antimalarial artemisinin and galantamine, which is used to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, are recently-introduced drugs which have an ethnopharmacological basis. 
  
What are you working on at the moment? 

In recent years I have been interested in plants used traditionally to help cognitive impairment in old age, particularly with regard to cholinesterase inhibitors and antioxidants. I also have an interest in plants used to treat cancer and diabetes and those used to help wounds to heal.

Do you believe there is a place for both traditional and Western medicines in society today? 

Very definitely. Medicine is increasingly realising that mixtures of compounds are often more useful in treating a disease than a single 'silver bullet' chemical. Modern approaches to chemotherapy of cancer and AIDS are examples of this. There is increasing evidence for 'polyvalence' in traditional medicines. In other words, different types of constituent are present with differing modes of action but all contributing to the overall clinical effect. Recent applications of systems biology and analysis of complex mixtures now enable the complex interplay of interactions between an extract and the body to be described and analysed scientifically. We must also not forget that, in many parts of the world, traditional remedies are the only ones within geographical or economic reach of many of the population. A scientific basis for their safe and effective use, as well as for ensuring good quality, would enable them to be viewed with greater confidence as alternatives to expensive 'Western' drugs. I believe that the increasing influence of China, with its very strong cultural heritage and current use of its traditional medicines, will accelerate a paradigm shift in Western thinking about chemotherapy of disease. 

You have recently joined the Natural Product Reports editorial board. What do you hope to bring to the journal? 

I have many international contacts with natural product chemists interested in medicinal plants and other living organisms. There is some high quality and interesting work being carried out in the Far East so I hope that some of this can be included in the journal. As well as the 'classical' phytochemical groupings, I think that I can make suggestions for contributors to help with regular updates on pharmacological or biological activities of interest. 

What is hot in natural products chemistry? 

There is a lot of interest in the chemistry and biological activity of Chinese medicinal plants. I believe that advanced and computer-aided analytical methods for profiling extracts and their effect on metabolic systems are of great interest, since these could be used both in standardisation protocols but also in elucidating complex interactions.  

What is your favourite plant? 

For scent, flowers and because it is so much associated with the beautiful British countryside, I would go for the hawthorn (Crataegus spp.). For its name, appearance and the attention that I get when I mention it, the sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata) is another favourite.   

What do you do in your spare time? 

I enjoy cooking, natural history and exploring. My wife and I always ring-fence time to have a couple of holidays each year, usually somewhere where we can walk and see flowers and animals. I am also quite involved in my local church and am training for ordination in September 2008 in the Church of England.

What would you be if you weren't a scientist? 

I think that a scientist is something that you are, even if you are not doing it as a job, so I hope that I will never lose my natural curiosity. However, I am planning to retire from full-time university life soon to spend more time helping in my church and its work - hence the ordination course. I see no real conflict between my Christian faith and scientific investigation; both follow from observing and seeking to explain things that exist and occur in the world around.