New sources of Taxol and taxanes to be used as antimitotic compounds

Taxol, originally extracted from the bark of Taxus brevifolia, is an effective antineoplastic agent, acting on microtubule dynamics and affecting cell cycle progression [1]. Presently, most of the drug for clinical use is produced by semi-synthesis, starting from a natural precursor, 10-deacetylbaccatin III [2]. The yield of taxol and its precursors from Taxus species is very low and it is not sufficient to satisfy the commercial requirements. The recent finding of taxanes in differentiated and undifferentiated tissue of Corylus avellana [3,4], suggested that the production of these compounds is not a peculiarity of Taxus genera, and that developing appropriate methodology other species could be used for the future production of Taxol and taxanes.

The aim of the present work was to verify whether C. avellana and other related species could be employed as commercial source of Taxol and its precursors. With this purpose extracts from differentiated tissues of several plant species were analysed by ELISA and HPLC. Methanolic extracts obtained from 3 different plant species have been shown to contain Taxol and other taxanes. Some of these extracts have also been shown to possess an antimitotic activity on cultured cell lines. Our finding suggested that plants wider available, faster growing and easier to be cultivated in vitro than taxus could be employed for the commercial production of Taxol and other antineoplastic compounds.

Acknowledgement: This work was partially supported by grant of Compagnia di San Paolo (A Balbi).

References: 1. Wani, M et al. (1971)J. Am. Chem. Soc. 93: 2325–2327.

2. Holton, R.A. et al. (1995) Taxol Science and Applications, Suffness M. CRC Press, Boca Raton 97–12.

3. Bestoso, F. et al. (2006) BMC Biotechnology 6: 45.

4. Ottaggio, L. et al. (2008)J. Nat. Prod. 71: 58–60.

Author, D., Author, E. (year) Journal abbreviation Volume:pagination. (Arial Narrow/9 pt/normal/single line spacing)