Paclitaxel as an anticancer agent: isolation, activity, synthesis and stability

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Paclitaxel is isolated from the Pacific yew. It can be obtained from the European yew, but only after chemical modification of the isolated compound by a semi-synthesis procedure. The procedure for total synthesis of paclitaxel is very complicated, involving multiple steps, and the yields of paclitaxel are meagre. This substance is also a metabolite of certain kinds of fungus. The microbiological pathway for producing paclitaxel compared with isolation from plant material involves shorter procuction times but a small yield. Cyclodextrins are usually used for improving the solubility of paclitaxel in aqueous media, with polymeric and other substances added. Paclitaxel has anticancer activity and use for preparing the formulations intravenously administrated to patients with tumors. The paclitaxel concentration in these formulations is determined using validated HPLC methods.</jats:p>

Filomicelles from Aromatic Diblock Copolymers Increase Paclitaxel-Induced Tumor Cell Death and Aneuploidy Compared with Aliphatic Copolymers

“…Even slow degradation of the free end of the CL block also converts a cylinder-forming amphiphile to a higher curvature sphere-former that will be more disruptive to membranes [10]. With free drug, cell viability decreased from day 1 to day 2, but then increased from day 2 to day 3 ( Figure 3C), which is perhaps due to degradation of TAX by hydrolysis [36,37] that occurs over days [38,39]. Nanocarrier cores can protect against such hydrolysis, with PCL cores protecting cisplatin from degradation [40] and a protective effect might explain the decrease in cell viability with TAX filomicelles from day 1 to 2 and day 2 to 3 ( Figure 3D).…”

Perceptions towards the practice of Andean traditional medicine and the challenges of its integration with modern medicine. Case Cuenca, Ecuador

“…In addition, there is evidence that active compounds isolated from medicinal plants are used in TM (Orrego-Escobar, 2015). One of the significant milestones in the research field of antineoplastic properties is paclitaxel (Nikolic et al, 2011).…”

Plant-Derived Natural Products in Cancer Research: Extraction, Mechanism of Action, and Drug Formulation

“…Different procedures have been developed to isolate paclitaxel from natural sources. The majority of ordinary solvent extraction processes reported in the literature have made use of methanol as the extraction solvent, where the accelerated solvent extraction method enhances the conventional extraction process using solvent at elevated temperatures [300,301]. On other hand, HPLC and mass spectroscopy analysis showed that acetone is the best solvent for the extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus baccata needles [298].…”

“…On other hand, HPLC and mass spectroscopy analysis showed that acetone is the best solvent for the extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus baccata needles [298]. Pure paclitaxel from plant material was obtained using Acetone/water precipitation procedure [301]. The extraction of paclitaxel from the ground bark of Taxus brevifolia using supercritical carbon dioxide was also reported [302].…”