Drug resistance is an obstacle to the effective treatment of ovarian cancer. We and others have shown that the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway is a novel potential target to overcome drug resistance. The purpose of this study was to validate IGF2 as a potential therapeutic target in drug resistant ovarian cancer and to determine the efficacy of targeting IGF2 in vivo. An anal...

Taxol is a potent anti-mitotic drug used in chemotherapy, angioplastic stents, and cell biology research. By binding and stabilizing microtubules, Taxol inhibits their dynamics, crucial for cell division, motility, and survival. The drug has also been reported to induce formation of asters and bundles composed of stabilized microtubules. Surprisingly, at commonly used concentrations, Taxol form...

OBJECTIVE To study the effects of Chaiqiyigan Granula (CG) and Taxol on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) xenografts and expression of Bax, p53 and VEGF in nude mice. METHODS Whole-body fluorescence imaging was used to visualize the growth of HCC in nude mice bearing hepG2/EGFP cell xenograft. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the content of Bax, p53 and vascular endotheli...

Taxane and vinblastine represent two classes of microtubules-targeted agents for cancer chemotherapy. Although taxol and vinblastine are widely used for cancer treatment, resistance to these agents is frequently encountered in the clinic. An ongoing question has been what mechanisms are involved in the resistance of tumour cells to microtubules-targeted agents or how the clinical effectiveness ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the drug combination of discodermolide and Taxol in human ovarian cancer cells and in an in vivo model of ovarian carcinoma. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The combination index method was used to evaluate the interaction of Taxol and discodermolide in human ovarian SKOV-3 carcinoma cells. Data were correlated with alterations in cell cycle distribution and caspase activation. In add...

Thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) is an essential enzyme for the activation of the cytostatics capecitabine (N(4)-pentyloxycarbonyl-5'-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine) and its intermediate metabolite [5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-dFUrd)] to 5-fluorouracil in tumors. We have tried to identify the best partners of capecitabine in combination therapy, such as dThdPase up-regulators, which may enhance the ...

Oct./Dec. 1994 4(4) populations (at least once every 5 years). 2) Focus surveys on cultivars shown to be promising sources of taxol and taxanes. 3) Continue to sample clippings yields annually for plants more than 3 years old. 4) Study the potential for harvesting other plant organs and whole plants for taxol along with clippings. Questions to be answered include: a) What would be the optimum p...

To understand how protein phosphorylation modulates cytoskeletal organization, we used immunofluorescence microscopy to examine the effects of okadaic acid, a serine/threonine protein phosphatase inhibitor, and taxol, a microtubule-stabilizing agent, on stable (acetylated and detyrosinated) microtubules, vimentin intermediate filaments and other cytoskeletal elements in CV-1 cells. Okadaic acid...

Chemoresistance to anticancer drugs is a major obstacle in the efforts to develop a successful treatment strategy for esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC). Thus, the exploration of new drugs and treatment strategies for combating resistance are of utmost importance. In this study, we investigated the antitumor drug resistance activity of Jesridonin, a new ent-kaurene diterpenoid, and its possib...

The endophytic fungal populations of different tissues of Taxus baccata grown at high altitudes in West Bengal, India were explored. These isolated fungal populations represented different genera, which were screened for taxol production using immunoassay technique. The culture AAT-TS-4(1) that produced taxol was identified as Gliocladium sp. based on its cultural, morphological characteristics...