Monday, August 15, 2011

Biology question! what drugs stop mitosis!?

Colchicine inhibits microtubule polymerization by binding to tubulin, one of the main constituents of microtubules. Availability of tubulin is essential to mitosis, and therefore colchicine effectively functions as a "mitotic poison" or spindle poison. Since one of the defining characteristics of cancer cells is a significantly increased rate of mitosis, this means that cancer cells are significantly more vulnerable to colchicine poisoning than are normal cells. However, the theutic value of colchicine against cancer is (as is typical with chemotherapy agents) limited by its toxicity against normal cells.

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