In vitro evaluation of a combination treatment involving anticancer agents and an aurora kinase B inhibitor.

Aurora kinase B (AURKB) inhibitors are regarded as potential molecular-targeting drugs for cancer therapy. The present study evaluated the cytotoxic effect of a combination of AZD1152-hQPA, an AURKB inhibitor, and various anticancer agents on the HeLa human cervical cancer cell line, as well as its cisplatin-resistant equivalent HCP4 cell line. It was demonstrated that AZD1152-hQPA had an antagonistic effect on the cytotoxicity of cisplatin, etoposide and doxorubicin, but had a synergistic effect on that of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), Am80 and TAC-101, when tested on HeLa cells. Cisplatin, etoposide and doxorubicin were shown to increase the cellular expression of AURKB, while ATRA, Am80 and TAC-101 downregulated its expression. These results suggested that AURKB expression is regulated by these anticancer agents at the transcriptional level, and that the level of expression of AURKB may influence the cytotoxic effect of AZD1152-hQPA. Therefore, when using anticancer agents, decreasing the expression of AURKB using a molecular-targeting drug may be an optimal therapeutic strategy.