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Background and Hypothesis:Thymic Epithelial Tumors are uncommon tumors of the anterior mediastinum composed ofthymomas thymic carcinomas (TC). TC’s known to have worse disease outcomes andlower rates survival in comparison thymomas suspected lower responserates chemotherapy as well. As these rare, little data exists assessing trueefficacy chemotherapeutic regimens for TC patients. Due this lack...

for AACR Special Conference: “Molecular Imaging In Cancer”, Jan.23-27,2002 Monitoring the Temporal Distribution of Taxol in a Living Tumor Cell Using Raman Imaging Microscopy Jian Ling, Michael A. Miller, Edna Cruz, Steven D. Weitman, Alan C. Bovik Direct Raman imaging techniques are being developed to study drug distribution in living cells. The advantage of Raman imaging over the fluorescent ...

Freezing, dehydration, and supercooling cause microtubules in mesophyll cells of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. cv Bloomsdale) to depolymerize (ME Bartolo, JV Carter, Plant Physiol [1991] 97: 175-181). The objective of this study was to determine whether the LT(50) (lethal temperature: the freezing temperature at which 50% of the tissue is killed) of spinach leaf tissue can be changed by diminis...

Distribution of mitochondria as well as other intracellular organelles in mammalian cells is regulated by interphase microtubules. Here, we demonstrate a role of microtubules in the mitochondrial biogenesis using various microtubule-active drugs and human osteosarcoma cell line 143B cells and rat liver-derived RL-34 cells. Depolymerization of microtubules by nocodazole or colchicine, as well as...

Toxicity elicited by the antitumor compound taxol has been linked to irreversible tubulin polymerization, cell cycle block at mitosis, and cell death from apoptosis. We have used pulsed drug exposure of synchronized populations to identify two points, one in transition from G0 to G1 and the other at G2/M of cell cycle, that are most sensitive to taxol-induced cell killing. By analyzing these le...

The structural pharmacophore of Taxol, responsible for binding the N terminus of the beta-subunit of tubulin to arrest cell proliferation, comprises, in part, the 13-O-(N-benzoyl-3-phenylisoserinoyl) side chain. To identify the side chain transferase of Taxol biosynthesis, a set of transacylases obtained from an enriched cDNA library (constructed from mRNA isolated from Taxus cuspidata cells in...

The phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase/Akt pathway is activated frequently in human cancer, and has been implicated in tumor proliferation, cell survival, and resistance to apoptotic stimuli. Akt forms a complex with heat shock protein (Hsp) 90 and Cdc37, and inhibitors of Hsp90 cause Akt degradation. 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AGG) is an Hsp90 inhibitor currently in Phase I clinica...

Paclitaxel (Taxol) is an anticancer agent with clinical activity against various human cancer types. Paclitaxel blocks cell division by stabilizing microtubules, a mechanism that also underlies its major side effects (neutropenia and neurotoxicity). Paclitaxel can also alter cardiac function, and to elucidate the mechanism of this activity, we tested the mechanical and electrical effects of pac...