Abstract: Objective To investigate the inhibition of 7 human cancer cell lines by resveratrol and epirubicin treated in combination. Methods: Tumor cell lines were cultured in vitro, treated with resveratrol and epirubicin in combination for 24 hours. The inhibition effect was evaluated with MTS method. The cell morphology and necrosis were evaluated with both regular microscopy and fluorescence microscopy after PI staining. The cell cycle distribution was evaluated with flow cytometry (FCM) after PI staining. Results: The combination of resveratrol and epirubicin generated a synergistic inhibition of MCF7 and MGC803 cell lines, which was greater than the summation of the inhibition produced by either drug alone. The inhibition of the remaining tumor cell lines by the combination treatment was and additive . Obvious necrosis was observed by treated in combination. Cell cycle analysis revealed that the combination treatment tended to arrest the cells in G1 and S phases. Conclusion: A synergistic inhibition of the MCF7 and MGC803 cell line was produced by the combination treatment of resveratrol and epirubicin, which caused the cellular necrosis and cell cycle inhibition. The combination treatment did not generate a synergistic inhibition of the other tumor cell lines evaluated in this study.

Key words: resveratrol, epirubicin, treated in combination