Phytosulfokine-alpha (PSK-alpha) is a small plant peptide (5 amino acids) that displays characteristics typically associated with animal peptide hormones. PSK-alpha was originally isolated based on its mitogenic activity with plant cultures; it has been reported to increase production of tropane alkaloids from Atropa belladonna, although its general influence on secondary metabolite production ...

BACKGROUND Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is used to assess intermediate lesions in native coronary arteries; minimum lumen area (MLA) <4.0 mm(2) is accepted as a cutoff for a significant stenosis. We evaluated the IVUS in-stent MLA at 9-month follow-up that best predicted subsequent target lesion revascularization (TLR)-free survival in patients from the TAXUS IV, V, and VI studies. METHODS...

BACKGROUND The first clinical study of paclitaxel-eluting stent for de novo lesions showed promising results. We performed the TAXUS III trial to evaluate the feasibility and safety of paclitaxel-eluting stent for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR). METHODS AND RESULTS The TAXUS III trial was a single-arm, 2-center study that enrolled 28 patients with ISR meeting the criteria of lesio...

BACKGROUND Taxol is an effective antineoplastic agent, originally extracted from the bark of Taxus brevifolia with a low yield. Many attempts have been made to produce Taxol by chemical synthesis, semi-synthesis and plant tissue cultures. However, to date, the availability of this compound is not sufficient to satisfy the commercial requirements. The aim of the present work was to produce suspe...

OBJECTIVES A novel zotarolimus-eluting coronary stent system (ZoMaxx, Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois) was compared with a paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent (Taxus Express2) in a randomized trial of percutaneous intervention for de novo coronary artery stenosis. The primary end point was defined as noninferiority of in-segment late lumen loss after 9 months. BACKGROUND The ZoMaxx s...

The cDNA clone for a 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-O-acetyl transferase, which catalyzes formation of the last diterpene intermediate in the Taxol biosynthetic pathway, has been isolated from Taxus cuspidata. By using consensus sequences from an assembly of transacylases of plant origin and from many deduced proteins of unknown function, a homology-based PCR cloning strategy was employed to amplif...

BACKGROUND In the COREA-TAXUS trial ("Effect of Celecoxib On REstenosis after coronary Angioplasty with a TAXUS stent"), celecoxib reduced late luminal loss and adverse cardiac events at follow-up around 6 months. The objective of this study was to assess the long-term outcome of short-term adjunctive celecoxib treatment after paclitaxel-eluting stent implantation. METHODS AND RESULTS This is...

Background—The first clinical study of paclitaxel-eluting stent for de novo lesions showed promising results. We performed the TAXUS III trial to evaluate the feasibility and safety of paclitaxel-eluting stent for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR). Methods and Results—The TAXUS III trial was a single-arm, 2-center study that enrolled 28 patients with ISR meeting the criteria of lesion ...