Paclitaxel

The Interaction of Paclitaxel with Microtubules

spinqualitylabelsall models Caption for this structure Show:Asymmetric Unit Biological Assembly Drag the structure with the mouse to rotate   Export Animated Image   Print3D This is a default text for your page Paclitaxel. Click above on edit this page to modify. Be careful with the < and > signs. You may include any references to papers as in: the use of JSmol in Proteopedia or to the article describing Jmol to the rescue. Function Function: Paclitaxel (also known as taxol) is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It has been approved to treat ovarian, breast, and lung cancer, as well as Kaposi’s sarcoma. Paclitaxel is an antitumor drug and it plays a major role in cancer chemotherapy. Paclitaxel enhances the polymerization of tubulin to stable microtubules. Microtubules consist of polymers of tubulin which form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to the cytoplasm of various cells. They are involved in cell division (by mitosis and meiosis) and are the major constituents of mitotic spindles. Paclitaxel partly induces cell death through disrupting mitosis by binding to and stabilizing the microtubule proteins. When paclitaxel binds to the microtubules, it essentially freezes them in place, preventing the separating of chromosomes during cell division. The stabilization is accompanied by structural modifications in the microtubules. The effects are different if assembly of mitotic apparatus is accompanied with the presence of paclitaxel, compared to when paclitaxel is added after the assembly. [1] Structural highlights This is a sample scene created with SAT to color by Group, and another to make a transparent representation of the protein. You can make your own scenes on SAT starting from scratch or loading and editing one of these sample scenes.

Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)

Samantha Jordan, Alexander Berchansky, Michal Harel