THE EFFECT OF COMBINATION TREATMENTS OF EPIGALLOCATECHIN-3-GALLATE, THYMOQUINONE, AND 5 - FLUOROURACIL ON FADU NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA CELLS

摘要

The FaDu squamous cell carcinoma cell line was used to test combination treatments of natural (EgCg and TQ) drugs and a chemotherapeutic (5-FU) drug to determine if combining drugs with different cell cycle targets would be more effective at destroying cancer cells than one drug that only targets one phase of the cell cycle. There were a total of four different combinations. One combination consisted of all three treatments: EgCg, TQ, and 5-FU. The other three combinations were as follows: EgCg + TQ, EgCg + 5-FU, and TQ + 5-FU. The combination treatments were measured at 24, 48, and 72 hours. There were significant reductions in cell number at each time increment. The combination of any two drugs especially a natural drug plus a chemotherapeutic drug proved to be more effective than single individual drugs in eradicating cancer. The combination of EGCG + TQ + 5-FU proved to be most effective in cell reduction. Since a combination of drugs target more than one phase of the cell cycle, the cells were less likely to become resistant to two or more drugs.