Taxane

Taxanes are poisonous alkaloids produced by Yew plants. Alkaloids are made by a large variety of organisms, but taxanes are produced only by plants of the genus Taxus.

Taxanes work mainly by disrupting the function of cell microtubules. Microtubules are essential to cell division, so taxanes are essentially mitotic inhibitors. This explains why taxanes have been used to produce chemotherapy drugs.

References

↑ Takimoto CH, Calvo E. "Principles of oncologic pharmacotherapy" Archived 2009-05-15 at the Wayback Machine in Pazdur R, Wagman LD, Camphausen KA, Hoskins WJ (Eds) Cancer management: a multidisciplinary approach Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine. 11th ed. 2008.

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[1] Takimoto CH, Calvo E. "Principles of oncologic pharmacotherapy" Archived 2009-05-15 at the Wayback Machine in Pazdur R, Wagman LD, Camphausen KA, Hoskins WJ (Eds) Cancer management: a multidisciplinary approach Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine. 11th ed. 2008.