Abstract

Background: Endometrial cancer is the most common type of gynecological cancer encountered in developed countries. Combination therapy is a treatment method that combines more than one agent used in treatment. Today it is one of the most important weapons in cancer treatment. In this study, the aim was to examine the sole and combined effects of classical chemotherapeutics drugs and ATRA on Ishikawa cells in vitro.

Methods: To determine the effects of classical chemotherapeutics and ATRA on Ishikawa cells, MTT, DAPI staining, caspase-3 and real-time PCR analyses was performed.

Results: It was observed that the combination of classical chemotherapeutics+ATRA significantly decreased cell viability at all doses. DAPI staining showed apoptosis. In apoptotic cells, it was observed that the nuclei strangulated, divided into small pieces, and condensed. Caspase 3 activity increased in parallel with the increase in the doses of ATRA and other agents and these increases were statistically significant. It was observed that combined applications do not have a reduction effect on gene activations as much as single applications.

Conclusion: In this study, ATRA and other agents sole and in combination showed significant anticancer effects in MTT, DAPI Staining and Caspase-3 analyses in Ishikawa cells. In Real-Time PCR analysis, ATRA and other agents showed similar anticancer effects when applied alone. However, the same effect was not observed when agents combined and this is different from some results in the literature. Researching this subject with new studies will contribute to the literature.