TY - JOUR AB - Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is the most aggressive type of thyroid cancer and is responsible for 20‑50% of thyroid cancer‑associated deaths. The absence of response to conventional treatments makes the search for novel therapeutics a clinical challenge. In the present study, the effects of 15,16‑dihydrotanshinone I (DHT), a tanshinone extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen), which has previously been shown to possess anticancer activity, were examined in two human ATC cell lines. DHT significantly reduced cell viability, which was coupled with an increase in apoptosis. DHT administration also reduced the colony‑forming ability and proliferation of these cells in soft agar and downregulated the expression of epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition‑related genes. In addition, DHT significantly reduced MAD2 expression, a target of HuR with a relevant role in ATC. Finally, cotreatment with cisplatin and DHT has a greater effect on cell viability than each compound alone. In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate that DHT exerts antitumor effects on ATC cells by reducing MAD2 expression levels. Moreover, a synergistic effect of DHT with cisplatin was shown. Further in vivo studies are required to assess this phytochemical compound as a potential adjuvant for the treatment of ATC. AD - Department of Medicine, University of Udine, I‑33100 Udine, Italy Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, I‑98122 Messina, Italy Department of Health Sciences, University of Catanzaro ‘Magna Graecia’, I‑88100 Catanzaro, Italy AU - Allegri,Lorenzo AU - Domenis,Rossana AU - Navarra,Michele AU - Celano,Marilena AU - Russo,Diego AU - Capriglione,Francesca AU - Damante,Giuseppe AU - Baldan,Federica DA - 2021/09/01 DO - 10.3892/or.2021.8155 IS - 3 JO - Oncol Rep KW - thyroid cancer HuR phytochemical MAD2 cisplatin PY - 2021 SN - 1021-335X 1791-2431 SP - 204 ST - Dihydrotanshinone exerts antitumor effects and improves the effects of cisplatin in anaplastic thyroid cancer cells T2 - Oncology Reports TI - Dihydrotanshinone exerts antitumor effects and improves the effects of cisplatin in anaplastic thyroid cancer cells UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2021.8155 VL - 46 ER -