Microtubule-interacting drugs for cancer treatment

Microtubule-interacting drugs are important agents in cancer chemotherapy. Some of these drugs alter microtubule dynamics and engage the cell cycle surveillance mechanisms to arrest cell division in mitosis. Many cancer cells possess genetic lesions in components of this pathway and thus fail to arrest in mitosis. Therefore, by targeting the spindle microtubulles, chemotherapeutic agents can efficiently block cell cycle progression in normal cells with intact surveillance mechanisms while initiating programmed cell death in certain tumours and inhibit their aggressive growth. Although anti-microtubule drugs such as the vinca alkaloids and taxanes have been used successfully for cancer treatment in humans, many cancers have become resistant to these drugs over time. Several new compounds with anti-mitotic properties are effective chemotherapeutic agents in drug-resistant cell lines, and thus the search for new tubulin-binding drugs is both important and promising for the therapeutic options for the management of cancer.