The present study was aimed to investigate the mutagenicity and carcinogenic potential of taxol, a novel antitumour agent.
The results showed that taxol, at the concentrations of 1.0 μg 5.0 mg/plate, both with and without S9 activation, was not mutagenic to the four standard test strains (TA97, TA98, TA100 and TA102) in the Salmonella mutagenicity test, and showed positive responses in both mouse bone marrow
micronucleus assay and chromosomal aberration analysis of CHL cells. The micronucleus rate induced by taxol at concentrations of 20, 40 and 80 mg·kg -1 was 19.3, 29.3 and 47.1‰ respectively, which differed considerably from the control (2.2‰). The activities of taxol on chromosomal aberration of CHL cell were also demonstrated in the range of 20 160 μg·L -1 without S9 activation and 80 640 μg·L -1 with S9 activation. These
aberrations were characterized by the numeral aberrations of chromosome, contrary to those induced by positive control mutagens. These results are consistent with the ability of taxol to inhibit tubulin disassembly in dividing cells, and indicate that its action target is the spindle rather than the DNA. The present study shows a carcinogenic potential of taxol and provides valuable data for the risk benefit analysis of its clinical use.