Relationship of Mitotic Arrest and Apoptosis to Antitumor Effect of Paclitaxel

Abstract

Apoptosis is an important mechanism of cell death in response to paclitaxel treatment of in vivo murine tumors. An underlying tumor type-specific propensity for apoptosis is implied by the correlation between pretreatment and paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. Both the extent of pretreatment apoptosis and the paclitaxel-induced percentage of apoptosis may be useful predictors of response to the drug.