A tree that makes a rare anticancer compound is near extinction. Chinese scientists may have an answer

As critical yew tree becomes scarce, Chinese study finds new pathway to rare anticancer compound

Research on the plant that produces cigarettes offers new hope in the treatment of breast, ovarian and lung cancer

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It takes about three to 12 century-old yew trees to manufacture the amount of chemotherapy drug paclitaxel needed to treat an ovarian cancer patient. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:00am, 29 Jan 2024Updated: 11:10am, 29 Jan 2024

Chinese scientists have deciphered the biosynthetic pathway of a rare, naturally occurring anticancer drug, and reproduced it for the first time – in tobacco.

Paclitaxel – sold under the brand name Taxol – is a well-known anticancer compound. First discovered in the Pacific yew tree in 1962, paclitaxel is an FDA-approved anticancer drug used to treat breast, ovarian and lung cancer. The drug disturbs the division of cancer cells and in turn blocks cell cycle progression.

But despite the success of paclitaxel in clinical applications, it is extremely difficult to obtain. It makes up only about 0.004 per cent of the tree’s bark.

The scarcity means that treating a patient with ovarian cancer, for instance, requires between three to 12 yew trees that are more than a century old, resulting in large numbers of yew trees being cut down.

Adding to their scarcity is the fact that yew trees grow slowly. In China, where the tree is on the verge of extinction, the Pacific yew tree is classified as a first-level rare and protected species, on par with the giant panda.

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