Antitumor effect of levetiracetam combined with temozolomide in glioma cell lines.

e13530 Background: The antitumor effect oftemozolomide (TMZ) is still remitted for portion of glioma patients, and if anti-epilepcy drug levetiracetam (LEV) may help TMZ for anti-glioma is not clear. Methods: The cell proliferation with Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was performed in two O 6 -methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) positive cell lines (T98G and U138) and two other MGMT negative cell lines (SKMG-4 and U87). The cells were treated with LEV and TMZ alone or in combination. Results: LEV inhibited the proliferation of glioma cell lines but not reach therapeutic effect, especially in U87cell line. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of TMZ was significantly decreased in cell lines (T98G, U138 and SKMG-4, P< 0.05) which were treated with TMZ and LEV, but no significantly changed in U87 (P> 0.05). Conclusions: LEV may inhibit the proliferation of glioma cell lines (both MGMT- positive and MGMT-negative) and also sensitizes cell lines (T98G, U138 and SKMG-4, but not U87) to TMZ.