Is There a Treatment Advantage When Paclitaxel and Lovastatin Are Combined to Dose Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma Cell Lines

Background: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is the most aggressive type of thyroid carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel and lovastatin in ATC cell lines. Methods: ATC cells were treated with paclitaxel and lovastatin, separately or together, and the cytotoxicity of the compounds was determined by quantifying cell viability and apoptosis. We conducted an isobologram analysis to investigate the combined effect of the two drugs. Results: In 8505C cells, cellular viability was inhibited by lovastatin and paclitaxel in a concentration-dependent manner (p = 0.002 and p = 0.020, respectively). The IC50 of lovastatin was 3.53 μM and that of paclitaxel was 5.98 nM. In BHT-101 cells, cellular viability was also inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by lovastatin and paclitaxel (p = 0.020 and p = 0.032, respectively). The IC50 of lovastatin was 17.13 μM and that of paclitaxel was 35.26 nM. In 8505C cells, paclitaxel and lovastatin alone induced ...