A new cancer treatment more potent than the best-selling cancer drug taxol is
working well in human trials. Epothilone, which comes from soil-dwelling
organisms called myxobacteria, stops cancer cells dividing as taxol does. When a
cell splits in two, elastic protein threads draw the chromosomes apart. But
epothilone binds to these 鈥渢ubulins鈥� and halts a tumour鈥檚 runaway cell division.
鈥淓pothilone stops the chromosomes from being pulled apart,鈥� says Herbie Newell
of the Newcastle University Cancer Research Unit.
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