Abstract

Taxol is a naturally occurring diterpene alkaloid which has significant anticancer activity. In order to assess the full chemotherapeutic potential of the drug, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) requires sufficient material for the treatment of 12,000 patients with a variety of cancers. The current principal source of the compound is the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia. While NCI's short range goal may be achieved through the processing of T. brevifolia bark, it is imperative to identify alternative or supplemental sources of taxol for environmental, economic, and humanitarian reasons. One potential source of the drug is biomass from commercial Taxus plantings. In this study needles from 14 cultivars of Taxus were analyzed for taxol content. Samples were obtained from 7- to 12-year-old plants at four commercial nurseries, as well as 15-year-old plantings from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's test plots. Taxol concentrations in the needles varied from a low of 118 ppm in T. cuspidata ‘Sieboldii’ to a high of 882 ppm in T. x media ‘Nigra’ on a dry weight basis.