Stattic enhances the anti-proliferative effect of docetaxel via the Bax/Bcl-2/cyclin B axis in human cancer cells

•Stattic enhances the efficacy of docetaxel by changing the cell cycle distribution of DU-145 prostate cancer cells.•Co-treatment of docetaxel and stattic has a strong synergistic effect.•Combination treatment with two agents (stattic and docetaxel) increase apoptotic cell death in comparison to single treatment.•Comparison of single treatment, combinatorial treatment with stattic and docetaxel leads to decreases the expression of key anti-apoptotic genes (Bcl-2, Bcl-xl).