Effects of All-Trans-Retinoic Acid on Over Cancer Culture (Ovcar-3) Alone and Combined with Classical Chemotherapeutics

Abstract

Hulusi Goktug Gurer27350, Ceren Yildiz Eren27351*, Ozlem Ozgür Gursoy27352, Ayşe Tansu Koparal27353 and Sabit Sinan Ozalp27354

Background: Ovarian cancer is the  most  common cause of gynecological cancer deaths; it has a very important place in gynecological oncology. 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 CT drugs and ATRA on Ovcar-3 cells in vitro.

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

Results: It was observed that the combination of paclitaxel+carboplatin+ATRA significantly decreased cell viability at all doses on all days. DAPI staining showed apoptosis. In apoptotic cells, it was observed that the nuclei strangulated, divided into small pieces, and condensed. Among the combinations, the highest increase in caspase-3 activity was recorded with the combination of ATRA+paclitaxel. It was observed that combined applications do not have a reduction effect on gene activations as much as single applications.

Conclusions: In this study, ATRA and other agents sole and in combination showed significant anticancer effects in MTT, DAPI Staining and Caspase-3 analyses in Ovcar-3 cancer cell lines. 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.