Monoclonal antibodies to taxanes that neutralize the biological activity of paclitaxel

Recently it has been proposed that drug-specific neutralizing antibodies may limit side-effects that occur during chemotherapy. These studies were undertaken to determine if monoclonal antibodies, 3C6 specific to paclitaxel and 8A10 specific to taxane diterpenes, are inhibitors of paclitaxel-induced inhibition of proliferation and cellular microtubule and nuclear changes. The results show that 3C6 and 8A10 each inhibit paclitaxel-induced cytotoxicity, microtubular bundling, stabilization from vinblastine-induced microtubule depolymerization and the formation of micronuclei. We conclude that these antibodies effectively neutralize paclitaxel activity in vitro and that they may be useful to determine if antibody-blocking strategies can prevent dose-limiting toxicities.