Abstract
Objectives
We evaluated the potential effects of aspirin combined with vitamin D3 on cell proliferation and apoptosis in oral cancer cells.
Results
Compared to the untreated control or individual drug, the combinations of aspirin and vitamin D3 significantly decreased the rates of cell proliferation by CCK-8 assay, and caused higher rates of cell apoptosis in both CAL-27 and SCC-15 cells by Annexin V-FITC apoptosis assay and flow cytometry. Remarkably, the combined treatment with aspirin and vitamin D3 significantly suppressed the expression of Bcl-2 protein and p-Erk1/2 protein, examined by western blot analysis.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrates that aspirin and vitamin D3 have biological activity against two human OSCC cell lines and their activity is synergistic or additive when two drugs used in combination with therapeutic concentrations. The combination of aspirin and vitamin D3 may be an effective approach for inducing cell death in OSCC.
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Acknowledgement
This study was financially supported by the Program for Innovation Team Building at Institutions of Higher Education in Chongqing in 2016 (NO CXTDG201602006), the Scientific and Technological Research Program of Health and Family planning Commission of Chongqing Province (2017ZDXM019), and Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education.
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Xiao, TT., Li, X., Feng, JL. et al. Combined effects of aspirin and vitamin D3 on two OSCC cell lines: a preliminary study. Biotechnol Lett 40, 551–559 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-018-2508-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-018-2508-5