TY - JOUR T1 - The Synergistic Effect of Rapamycin Combined with 5-Fluorouracil in BALB/cByJNarl Mice Bearing CT-26 Tumor Cells JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 3329 LP - 3335 VL - 34 IS - 7 AU - TE-HSIN CHAO AU - GENG-RUEI CHANG AU - WEN-YING CHEN AU - PO-LIN CHEN AU - FRANK CHIAHUNG MAO Y1 - 2014/07/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/34/7/3329.abstract N2 - Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effect of rapamycin, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, combined with 5-fluorouracil treatment on CT-26 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells implanted into BALB/c mice. Materials and Methods: Two experiments were carried out: treatment from day 1 after CT-26 cell implantation; and treatment from day 7 after CT-26 cell implantation after the detection of a tumor mass. There were four groups in each experiment: control; treatment with 5-fluorouracil; with rapamycin; and with rapamycin with 5-fluorouracil. Results: Rapamycin combined with 5-fluorouracil significantly reduced tumor size, suppressed expression of B-cell lymphoma 2, increased tumor apoptosis, and inhibited mTOR signaling activity by de-phosphorylation of S6K. Conclusion: The results strongly suggest that rapamycin might increase the chemosensitization of tumor cells. Rapamycin combined with 5-fluorouracil treatment had a synergistic tumor-inhibition effect. Future research on rapamycin is required to develop new therapeutic strategies. ER -