Figure 1.

(A) Schematic of the two-step synthesis of the paclitaxel-prodrug with α-tocopherol as the lipid anchor. In the first step, the tocopherol lipid anchor is synthesized, and in the second step paclitaxel (PTX) is conjugated to the lipid anchor to form the prodrug (Pro). (B) Cell cycle analysis of ovarian cancer cell line OVCA-432 using flow cytometry of (grey) untreated cells, control, and cells treated with either (pink) free paclitaxel or (green) free paclitaxel prodrug (n = 3). Analysis with a t-test found a significant difference between free paclitaxel and free prodrug was when comparing the subG₁ phase (p = 0.018), G₁/G₀ phase (p = 0.011), G₂/M phase (p = 0.00005) where the cell cycle is comprised of the: G₁ = growth phase 1, S = DNA synthesis phase, G₂ = growth phase 2, M = mitosis, and G₀ = rest phase.