Stemcell, 74072, Nocodazole

Nocodazole is an anti-mitotic agent that reversibly interferes with the polymerization of microtubules

(De Brabander et al.). Nocodazole binds to beta-tubulin and disrupts microtubule assembly/disassembly dynamics, impairing formation of the metaphase spindles during the cell division cycle. This prevents mitosis by inducing a G2/M-phase arrest and induces apoptosis in tumor cells (Jordan et al.).

GENOME EDITING

· Synchronizes human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in the G2/M cell cycle phase, thereby increasing the efficiency of homology-directed repair (HDR) in CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing (Lin et al.; Yang et al.).

CANCER RESEARCH

· Induces apoptosis in leukemic cells without harming T cells and/or mesenchymal stromal cells that were recovered from the same patients (Frezzato et al.).