Antitumor effects of specific cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors combined with chemotherapeutic agents on glioma cells in vitro

Abstract

Objective To study the effects of two specific cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, etocoxib and celecoxib, combined with chemotherapeutic drugs vincristine (VCR), diamminedichloroplatinum (DDP) and vumon (VP-26) on glioma cell line U251, and to evaluate whether the specific cyclooxygen-ase-2 inhibitors can be used as a synergetic agent in glioma chemotherapy. Methods The human glioma cell line U251 MG was cutured for 48 h with etocoxib and celecoxib,VCR,DDP or VP-26 alone,or in con-bination with etocoxib/celecoxib and gradient concentrations (1,10,100 mg/L) of VCR, DDP, and VM-26, respectively. MTT assay was performed to detect the cells proliferation. Median-effect principle and Pro-fessor Jin's evaluation methods were applied to evaluate the interaction between the specific cyclooxygen-ase-2 inhibitors and chemotherapeutic agents. Results The growth inhibition rate of U251 MG cells was (40.87±1.88)% and (46.81±2.37)% after treatment with 30 μmol/L etocoxib and 100 μmol/L celecoxib,respectively. The inhibition rate of U251 MG cells treated with VCR,DDP and VP-26 at differ-ent concentrations (1,10, or 100 μmol/L) was (39.83±1.14) %, (45.90±1.27) %, (73.47± 3.0)% ;(38.20±1.65)%, (49.37±1.48)%, (87.52±4.00)% ; (42.84±2.43)%, (53.48± 2.67%, (88.56±2.40) %, respectively. The inhibition rate was relatively higher in the cells treated by the two specific cyclooxygenase inhibitors and the chemotherapeutic agents at different concentrations (P< 0.05), and a synergetic effect existed. Conclusion Both etocoxib and celecoxib suppress human glioma cells in vitro and exert a synergetic role when combined with different concentrations of VCR, DDP, or VM-26,indicating that the two cyclooxygenase inhibitors may be used as a chemotherapeutic sensitizer for chemotherapy of human gliomas. Key words: Glioma; Cyclooxygenase; Chemotherapeutic agents; Chemotherapeutic sensitizer