ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Treatment of head and neck cancer with cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy has yielded increased complete response rates. In spite of the initial good response, recurrent cancer after chemotherapy does not respond to cisplatin based chemotherapy. In recent years, the analogues of taxol have used in a new chemotherapy treatments for head and neck cancer. The purpose of this study was to develop the acquired resistance to cisplatin in head and neck cancer cell line and to study the cross-resistance of docetaxel and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as compared to the parental cells in vitro. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Two different human head and neck cancer cell lines (PNUH-12, SNU-899) were studied. We developed two cisplatin resistant cell lines (PNUH-12 R1, SNU-899 R1) by exposing them to near continuous increasing concentration of cisplatin. The morphology, growth curve of resistant cell lines were studied and the resistance of these cell lines to the cisplatin, docetaxel and 5-FU were compared to that of parental cells by MTT assay. RESULTS: The pattern of growth and shape of PNUH-12 R1 and SNU 899 R1 cell lines showed similarity to their parent cell lines. The growth curve of these cell lines were suppressed when compared with the parental cells. When compared to the parental cells, PNUH-12 R1 cells were 2.0-fold, 3.8-fold, and 1.4-fold resistant, and SNU 899 R1 cells 3.5-fold, 6.7-fold, and 15.0-fold resistant to cisplatin, docetaxel and 5-FU, respectively. CONCLUSION: In our study, cisplatin resistant cell lines of head and neck cancer have strong cross-resistance to docetaxel. However, there was difference in cross-resistance to 5-FU between these cell lines.