Marjoram is a perennial herb in the mint family that grows wild in the Mediterranean region. It is used primarily as seasoning in cooked dishes but is also found in beauty and health care products. Often mistaken for oregano, marjoram is frequently called by many different names, including sweet marjoram, knotted marjoram, joy of the mountains, and wintersweet.
The structure of paclitaxel, a widely used mitotic inhibitor. A mitotic inhibitor is a drug that inhibits mitosis, or cell division. These drugs disrupt microtubules, which are structures that pull the cell apart when it divides. Mitotic inhibitors are used in cancer treatment, because cancer cells are able to grow and eventually spread through the body (metastasize) through continuous mitotic division.
One of these compounds, mitomycin C, finds use as a chemotherapeutic agent by virtue of its antitumour activity. It is given intravenously to treat upper gastro-intestinal cancers (e.g. esophageal carcinoma), anal cancers, and breast cancers, as well as by bladder instillation for superficial bladder tumours. It causes delayed bone marrow toxicity and therefore it is usually administered at 6-weekly intervals.