Activity of epothilones.

Epothilones represent a novel class of anticancer drugs which inhibit the cell cycle and strongly influence cell division. The biological activity of epothilones is associated with their capacity to bind to the protein tubulin of microtubules and to disturb the dynamic equilibrium between microtubule assembling and disassembling. Consequently, in dividing cells, it leads to mitotic arrest and to apoptotic cell death. A number of epothilones demonstrate a potent inhibitory effect on cell proliferation in human tumor cell lines, as well as antitumor activity in experimental animals bearing human tumor xenografts. This review will focus on the recent preclinical studies of the in vitro and in vivo activities of four epothilones, EPO-906, BMS-247550, KOS-862 and BMS-310705. Several epothilones are undergoing clinical evaluation and are promising candidates for advanced cancer therapy.