(for a list of my research publications on taxoids,
Taxol was discovered in the early 1970's as part of a National Cancer Institute screening of many species of higher plants for anticancer activity. (Many of our therapeutic drugs, and leads for new drugs, come from natural sources--bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals.) It has proven to be extremely useful in treating various forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian, lung and neck cancer.
The original source of the drug, the
Pacific yew tree, would have been driven to extinction by any
effort to collect enough of it for use on the number of cancer patients
who could benefit from it. Fortunately, synthetic organic
chemists have solved the supply problem, by finding ways to make the
active drug from a simpler, inactive piece of it (baccatin III)
which can be recovered from clippings of cultivated English yews, and
coupling it to a more readily synthesized part (the phenylisoserine
sidechain). In addition to Taxol® itself, marketed by
Bristol-Myers Squibb, a second drug, Taxotere®, is marketed by
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. Other related compounds (generically called
taxoids) are in clinical trials or in development. 
English yew (Taxus baccata) with fruit. It is commonly planted as an ornamental shrub. This one is outside the Anschutz Science Library at KU.
Chemists and biologists at many universities and pharmaceutical companies around the world have contributed to our present understanding of how these molecules can kill rapidly dividing cancer cells--an understanding which is still incomplete, and parts of which are being debated among the scientists working in this area. Taxoids bind to a cellular protein, tubulin, which assembles into structures called microtubules which are essential for cell division. We have gotten our first molecular-level look at these structures just in the past two years, a picture which continues to be refined
At the University of Kansas, a number of professors, Ph. D. students, and postdoctoral fellows have been working on various aspects of the chemistry and biochemistry of taxoids for the past decade. Dr. Gunda Georg, a professor of medicinal chemistry, began by applying her knowledge of how to synthesize beta-lactam antibiotics (from the penicillin family) to synthesizing the natural and custom-designed taxoid sidechains. Some of the designed compounds have been more active than Taxol® itself. One of the compounds was patented by Oread Laboratories in Lawrence. Dr. Richard Himes, a professor of biochemistry, has been studying the tubulin protein for much of his career. Students in his laboratory, in addition to carrying out their own research on nucleotide binding and the molecular biology of tubulin, have determined the activity and cytotoxicity of all the synthetic taxoids made in our laboratory.
An exciting recent development in this area has been the discovery, by Dr. Georg and Dr. Mary Lou Michalis (a professor of pharmacology), and their co-workers, that taxoids can protect brain cells from damage by amyloid, the causative agent of Alzheimer's disease--at least for cells in isolation (in an in vitro culture). This work raises the future hope that someday, people at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease could take medication before they show any symptoms or have lost any mental function, which would ward off the disease. Much work remains to be done in this area, principally to solve the problems connected with getting the drug into the brain; the blood-brain barrier ordinarily prevents this from happening. Another KU faculty member, Dr. Ken Audus (a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry), who has been studying the blood-brain barrier for some time, is also involved in this effort.
What's it like to undergo taxol treatment?
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Taxol site
Taxotere therapy (Rhône-Poulenc Rorer)
A list of the scientific papers I have published in this area
Taxol® is a trademark of Bristol Myers Squibb.
Taxotere® is a trademark of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer.