Pre-radiation enhances the cytotoxicity of docetaxel in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells.

This study was designed to determine the effect of the treatment schedule on the interaction between docetaxel and irradiation. Human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells with different p53 status, and HSC4 (p53 wild-type) and CAL27 (p53 mutant type) cells were treated with docetaxel and irradiation using three schedules: i) concurrent treatment, ii) docetaxel pretreatment and iii) pre-radiation. Docetaxel and radiation inhibited the proliferation of HSC4 and CAL27 cells in a dose-dependent manner.