# Taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel, nab-paclitaxel)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/taxane/  
OnCo record `taxane` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Chemotherapy drugs originally from the yew tree that freeze the cell's internal scaffolding (microtubules) so it cannot divide. Used in breast, lung, ovarian, prostate, gastric and head and neck cancers; their main lasting side effect is nerve damage in the hands and feet.

## Summary

Paclitaxel (Taxol, 1992) and docetaxel are given with platinum in ovarian and lung cancer, sequentially with anthracyclines in breast cancer, as the chemotherapy partner in KEYNOTE-522 and CLEOPATRA, and as first chemotherapy in prostate cancer (docetaxel, then cabazitaxel after progression). Nab-paclitaxel is an albumin-bound form that avoids solvent hypersensitivity and is standard with gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer. Peripheral neuropathy, alopecia, neutropenia and hypersensitivity reactions are the main toxicities; taxane-derived payloads are less common in ADCs than tubulin inhibitors such as MMAE, which act on the same target.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: taxanes; taxane-based; taxane-pretreated; post-taxane; taxane-naive; weekly paclitaxel; gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel; carboplatin/paclitaxel

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxane
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxane

## Connected records

- terms: [Doublet, triplet and quadruplet regimens](https://onco.cc/terms/doublet-triplet/), [Peripheral neuropathy (chemotherapy-induced)](https://onco.cc/terms/peripheral-neuropathy/), [Tubulin inhibitor payloads](https://onco.cc/terms/tubulin-inhibitor-payloads/)
- fronts: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/chemotherapy/)
- technologies: [Cytotoxic chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/)
- drugs: [Docetaxel](https://onco.cc/drugs/docetaxel/), [Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel](https://onco.cc/drugs/paclitaxel/)
- key papers: [Comparisons between different polychemotherapy regimens for early breast cancer: meta-analyses of long-term outcome among 100,000 women in 123 randomised trials](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ebctcg-polychemotherapy-regimens-meta-analysis-lancet-2012/), [Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, Endocrine Therapy, and Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer: ASCO Guideline](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-asco-neoadjuvant-therapy-breast-guideline-jco-2021/)
- roadmaps: [Triple-negative breast cancer roadmap: from a remainder defined by three negative tests to immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates and the residual disease problem](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/tnbc-roadmap/)

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