[Effect of a new anticancer drug, docetaxel (RP56976), on human leukemia cell lines]

The antitumor effect of a new derivative of taxol, docetaxel (RP56976), was examined in K562 human tumor system in vitro. K562 cells presenting a multidrug resistant phenotype showed cross resistance to docetaxel. However, the resistance levels of docetaxel in these cell lines were much lower than for adriamycin and vincristine. Flow cytometric analysis showed the accumulation of cells into G2/M phase after 18hrs. Wright-Giemsa staining showed a marked increase of metaphase population. Docetaxel was shown to promote the assembly of microtubule protein without GTP in vitro, but no inhibitory effect on DNA, RNA and protein synthesis. Moreover, topoisomerase activities were not affected by docetaxel. These results indicate that docetaxel acts as a strong mitotic inhibitor in cancer chemotherapy.