In our previous work, a naturally occurring secoligan – Peperomin E (PepE, Fig. 1) isolated from a commonly used anti-cancer folk medicine Peperomia dindygulensis in China, was found to effectively target and initiate oxidative stress mediated apoptosis in CD34+ AML cells with no apparent toxicity to normal cells in vitro [23]. Here, CD34 is linked to acute myeloid leukemia.