Antitumor Agents: Taxol and Taxanes-Production by Yew Cell Culture

Taxol™ is an anticancer drug increasingly used for the approved treatment of various cancer types, including ovarian, breast, lung, head and neck, bladder and cervix, melanomas, and AIDS-related Karposi's sarcoma. The supply of this compound is limited because of expanding demand and the fact that the only commercial source is the biomass of Taxus species. Yew trees grow relatively slowly, contain low and variable amounts of Taxol™, and in many cases are located in protected, environmentally sensitive areas. The bulk of current Taxol™ production derives from semisynthesis starting from 10-deacetyl baccatin III, a precursor obtained from yew needles. Cell culture of yew species is a viable alternate source of Taxol™ and related taxanes, which can be used for production and/or semisynthesis of the drug. Cell cultures are readily renewable and yield relatively homogeneous, easily manipulated systems for biosynthetic studies on Taxol™, amenable to large-scale commercial production.