Mechanism of Herceptin enhancing apoptosis and improving sensitivity to chemotherapy in Ishikawa cells

AIM: To investigate the role of Herceptin in the apoptosis and drug sensitivity of endometrial cancer Ishikawa cells.METHODS: The IC₅₀ values of Herceptin, adriamycin(ADR), cisplatin(DDP) and paclitaxel(PTX) for Ishikawa cells were detected by MTT method. Ishikawa cells were treated with single drug and combined chemotherapy for 24 h, the cell cycle and the apoptosis ratio were determined by flow cytometry.RESULTS: The IC₅₀ values of Herceptin, ADR, DDP and PTX were 57.12 mg/L, 0.572 μmol/L, 67.4 μmol/L and 719.5 nmol/L, respectively. Herceptin significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of the chemotherapeutic drugs, and increased apoptosis ratio statistically.CONCLUSION: Herceptin enhances the apoptosis-inducing ability of the chemotherapeutic drugs and improves the chemotherapeutic sensitivity in Ishikawa cells.