Abstract
Paclitaxel (Taxol), an anti-cancer drug derived from Taxus species, was tested for its anti-migrational, anti-invasive and anti-proliferative effect on two human glioma cell lines (GaMg and D-54Mg) grown as multicellular tumour spheroids. In addition, the direct effect of paclitaxel on glioma cells was studied using flow cytometry and scanning confocal microscopy. Both cell lines showed a dose-dependent growth and migratory response to paclitaxel. The GaMg cells were found to be 5-10 times more sensitive to paclitaxel than D-54Mg cells. Paclitaxel also proved to be remarkably effective in preventing invasion in a co-culture system in which tumour spheroids were confronted with fetal rat brain cell aggregates. Control experiments with Cremophor EL (the solvent of paclitaxel for clinical use) in this study showed no effect on tumour cell migration, cell proliferation or cell invasion. Scanning confocal microscopy of both cell lines showed an extensive random organization of the microtubules in the cytoplasm. After paclitaxel exposure, the GaMg and the D-54Mg cells exhibited a fragmentation of the nuclear material, indicating a possible induction of apoptosis. In line with this, flow cytometric DNA histograms showed an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle after 24 h of paclitaxel exposure. After 48 h, a deterioration of the DNA histograms was observed indicating nuclear fragmentation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Terzis, AJ., Thorsen, F., Heese, O. et al. Proliferation, migration and invasion of human glioma cells exposed to paclitaxel (Taxol) in vitro. Br J Cancer 75, 1744–1752 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.298
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.298
This article is cited by
-
Adjuvant convection-enhanced delivery for the treatment of brain tumors
Journal of Neuro-Oncology (2024)
-
Inference of glioblastoma migration and proliferation rates using single time-point images
Communications Biology (2023)
-
Convection-Enhanced Delivery
Neurotherapeutics (2017)
-
Anti-migratory and increased cytotoxic effects of novel dual drug-loaded complex hybrid micelles in triple negative breast cancer cells
Nano Research (2015)
-
A Tubulin Binding Peptide Targets Glioma Cells Disrupting Their Microtubules, Blocking Migration, and Inducing Apoptosis
Molecular Therapy (2012)