Ringel I, Horwitz S B
Department of Pharmacology, Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
J Natl Cancer Inst. 1991 Feb 20;83(4):288-91. doi: 10.1093/jnci/83.4.288.
RP 56976 (taxotere), a new semisynthetic analogue of taxol, is a potentially important chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer. We report here that this drug is a potent inhibitor of cell replication and, like taxol, promotes the in vitro assembly of stable microtubules in the absence of guanosine triphosphate and induces microtubule-bundle formation in cells. Compared with taxol, RP 56976 is slightly more active as a promoter of tubulin polymerization. As an inhibitor of cell replication, RP 56976 is 2.5-fold more potent than taxol in J774.2 and P388 cells and at least 5-fold more potent in taxol-resistant cells.
