Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39866454›Full record

ArticleHeliyon2025

The potential synergistic effect of combining doxorubicin with vorinostat in urothelial carcinoma therapy.

Cheng-Huang Shen, Shou-Chieh Wang, Kah-Min Lee, Hsin-Ting Liu, Szu-Wei Huang, Jin-Yi Wu, Yi-Wen Liu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Heliyon, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Cheng-Huang ShenDepartment of Urology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chiayi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, 600, Taiwan.
Shou-Chieh WangDivision of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kuang Tien General Hospital, Taichung, 437, Taiwan.
Kah-Min LeeDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan.
Hsin-Ting LiuDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan.
Szu-Wei HuangDepartment of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan.
Jin-Yi WuDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan.
Yi-Wen LiuDepartment of Microbiology, Immunology and Biopharmaceuticals, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, Chiayi City, Taiwan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Bladder cancer ranks as the 9th most common type of cancer worldwide. Approximately 70 % of bladder cancers are diagnosed as non-muscle invasive, and they are treated with transurethral resection followed by intravesical therapy. Doxorubicin is one of the effective cytotoxic drugs used in intravesical and systemic therapy, but its cardiotoxicity and nephrotoxicity limit therapeutic dosages. Vorinostat is an anticancer drug used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and it demonstrates potent combination effects in various anticancer treatments. We aim to investigate the combined effects and mechanisms of doxorubicin and vorinostat in human bladder cancer cells. Human bladder cancer cells (5637 and BFTC 905) were used in this study. Cell viability of 5637 and BFTC 905 cells decreases in a time- and dose-dependent manner when treated with doxorubicin or vorinostat. Compared to the single drug treatment, the combination of doxorubicin and vorinostat synergistically induces cell death in 5637 and BFTC 905 cells. Combination drug treatment improves the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, including cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase 8, cleaved caspase 9, cleaved caspase-3, and γ-H2AX in both cell lines. Cell viability of combined treatment in both cell lines is partially restored by pre-treating with Z-VAD-FMK, a pan-caspase inhibitor. Z-VAD-FMK also completely reduced the protein expression of cleaved caspase 3 and γ-H2AX, suggesting that combining doxorubicin and vorinostat leads to DNA strand breaks and apoptosis. Pre-treatment with Z-IETD-FMK, a specific caspase 8 inhibitor, shows a slight recovery of cell viability in 5637 and BFTC 905 cells following combined treatment. Cleaved caspase 8, and γ-H2AX proteins in both cell lines are totally inhibited, and cleaved PARP is partially inhibited. Pre-treatment with Ac-LEHD-CMK, a specific caspase 9 inhibitor, no cell viability recovery in both cell lines. These results indicate that the combination of doxorubicin and vorinostat activates the caspase 8 and caspase 9 apoptosis pathways, and induces DNA strand breaks mainly via the caspase 8 pathway. The combination of doxorubicin and vorinostat also significantly inhibits the growth of BFTC 905 tumorspheres and BFTC 905 xenograft tumors in mice. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the combination of doxorubicin with vorinostat could potentially serve as a new treatment regimen for urothelial bladder cancer, for avoiding the high-dose side effect of doxorubicin.

Indexed as

ApoptosisBladder cancerDoxorubicinSynergistic effectVorinostat

Identifiers

PMID39866454
PMCPMC11759543

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.