Combination of cisplatin treatment and photodynamic therapy attenuates cisplatin-induced cell toxicity in A2780 and A2780-CP cervical cancer cell lines

Cervical cancer is recognized as a serious worldwide health problem. Despite various achievements for cervical cancer treatment, there are still shortcomings that lead to severe side effects. Combination therapy is fast becoming a key and promising treatment strategy, diminishing chemotherapy-mediated side effects. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of combined cisplatin treatment and photodynamic therapy (PDT) on the cervical cancer recovery. In this study, A2780 and A2780-CP cell lines were cultured in the Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium (DMEM) enriched with 10% FBS and 1% antibiotic. Both cell lines were treated with cisplatin, photodynamic light (laser with methylene blue as a photosensitizer agent), and the combination of cisplatin treatment and PDT. Half maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated for each treatment by the use of tetrazolium salt assay. Both cell lines were examined for cell membrane lipid peroxidation rate. Our findings showed that combination of cisplatin treatment and photodynamic therapy leads to two-fold decreased cisplatin IC50. Results showed that cisplatin and photodynamic light combination could effectively reduce A2780 and A2780-CP cell viability ( p -value < 0.0001). Moreover, combined cisplatin and photodynamic therapy results revealed significantly increased cancer cell membrane destruction through increased lipid peroxidation, resulting in surged MDA content. Our conclusion is that combination of cisplatin and photodynamic therapy can be used as an effective and convenient treatment strategy without considerable side effects.