Inhibit microtubule formation with Paclitaxel. This diterpene alkaloid inhibits tumor cell growth in a variety of cancer cell lines such as cervical (HeLa), lung (A549), and breast (MCF-7) carcinomas (Liebmann et al. Br J Cancer, 1993). Paclitaxel is used to inhibit the initiation and outgrowth of neurites in vitro, through microtubule polymerization (Letourneau & Ressler. J Cell Biol, 1984); induce cell cycle arrest at prophase and G1 in various human cancer cell lines (Woods et al. Mol Med, 1995); and initiate apoptosis of cancer cells through various mechanisms such as p53-dependent and -independent pathways, B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) family members, cyclin-dependent kinases, and p38 MAPK (Wang et al. Cancer, 2000; Reshkin et al. Clin Cancer Res, 2003). Paclitaxel is supplied as a crystalline solid with ≥98% purity; Molecular weight 853.9 g/mol; CAS Number 33069-62-4. Visit STEMCELL.com for more information and related products.