Abstract
Lung cancer is an extremely aggressive and deadly form of cancer, resulting in thousands of deaths each year. In fact, the fatality rate is so high that the number of deaths caused by lung cancer alone surpasses the number of deaths caused by the next three most deadly cancers. The low survival rate has led to a lot of research regarding its treatment. A typical choice is the use of microtubule targeting agents. These drugs come in two forms, microtubule stabilizing and microtubule destabilizing. The stabilizing drugs work by preventing depolymerization of microtubules into its 𝛂 and 𝛃 tubulin dimers whereas the destabilizing drugs work by preventing polymerization of the dimers. Regardless of their mechanisms, both drugs impede the cell’s functioning and can result in oxidative stress. This lapse in homeostasis is caused by an imbalance of two opposing molecules and if the balance can’t be restored apoptosis often results. To test effectiveness of two known microtubule targeting agents, Taxol and Vincristine, at inducing oxidative stress in A549 Non-Small Lung Carcinoma cells, first the cell viability was measured using Alamar Blue Assay. After finding the IC50 values, oxidative stress was indicated by the fluorescence of reactive oxygen species in a CellROX Assay. In both Taxol and Vincristine, which are stabilizing and destabilizing respectively, as concentration of the treatment increased so did the amount of oxidative stress induced.