Doctors Choice, Naturally

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What is TAXACOR?

TAXACOR (Taxus brevifolia) is a botanical preparation that contains naturally sourced taxanes, as well as other various phytochemicals. As a whole plant base derivative from the needles of the Pacific Yew tree, TAXACOR provides a full range of health-promoting substances to improve overall cellular function and immunity.

What are Taxanes?

Taxanes are classified as mitotic inhibitors or more specifically as anti-microtubule agents in the process of abnormal cellular division. When aberrant cells replicate, the parent cell develops small tentacle-like structures known as microtubules (aka. spindle fibers). Traditionally, microtubules provide the cell with structural support and assist in cellular locomotion and transport. In the mitotic process, microtubules extend outward from the parent cell and new cell growth occurs at the tubular ends. When cellular maturity is achieved, the tubules disintegrate and the new cell is free to reproduce and function independent of the parent cell. In the presence of taxane however, microtubules are prohibited from carrying out this function. This is accomplished by a taxane molecule’s unique ability of binding to a cell’s microtubule assembly, stabilizing the GDP-bound tubulin component, and blocking the process of chromosomal segregation. The disintegration of the tubules is ultimately disrupted, and the new cell cannot separate from the parent cell. The parent cell becomes engorged with these microtubules, the mitotic cycle ceases and cell death proceeds (apoptosis).

The Taxane Discovery

During the 1950s, public pressure for serious cancer research began to mount. In response, the U.S. Government formed the National Cancer Institute (NCI) whose job was to initiate cancer research, organize research centers and in short, find new potential cancer treatments. Interestingly, one of the first steps taken by the NCI was to organize a massive nationwide search and screening program aimed at finding natural, wild-growing plants that possessed anti-cancer properties. Upon the completion of contracts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the NCI and hundreds of botanists in a conjoined effort set out to test every botanical plant believed to exhibit these qualities. Thousands of plant species were tested but none were as relevant to the mission as was Taxus brevifolia (commonly known as the Pacific Yew Tree).

In the ensuing years, Taxus brevifolia samples underwent continual analysis until it was determined that the samples did in fact possess anti-cancer properties worth further investigation. In 1966, researchers were able to isolate particular compounds from the brevifolia species that appeared to provide extraordinary anti-cancer properties. These compounds were classified under the group name, Taxanes.

Since initial synthesizing of these compounds could not be manufactured in a laboratory setting, it meant that the NCI would have to rely on extractions of the compounds from the brevifolia species itself. This process proved to be very time consuming, extremely expensive, and posed a threat to the endangerment of the species. Technology would later provide drug companies the capability of synthesizing taxane for pharmaceutical value, however only one of the 128 taxane compounds unique to the Pacific Yew tree was able to be standardized and replicated. Still the newly prescripted taxane compound (Taxol, granted federal drug status in 1992) made an immediate impact on the medical community and has become one of the most widely used chemotherapeutic agents with activity in ovarian, breast, prostate, and lung cancer.