Abstract
Platinum compounds, such as cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin and nedaplatin, are widely used to treat a number of solid malignancies. Nedaplatin is a second-generation platinum complex, based on its pronounced anti-cancer activities against several solid tumors being equivalent to that of cisplatin, but with lower nephrotoxicity. In this context, the present study aimed to investigate the potential anti-cancer effect by combining nedaplatin with ABT-737. It was found that nedaplatin greatly increased ABT-737-mediated apoptosis in A549 and 95-D cells, accompanied by enhanced cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase-3. In addition, this enhancement was also paralleled by cytochrome c release and dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential. Additional mechanistic investigations revealed that nedaplatin plus ABT-737 exerted a synergistic effect on cancer cells through their ability to accelerate the degradation of Mcl-1. The present study has revealed nedaplatin as a pertinent sensitizer to ABT-737, which opens up new avenues for this promising BH3-mimetic molecule in the clinic.