OBJECTIVE: There are number of studies which report that BCL-2 anti-apoptotic 
proteins (e.g. BCL-2, BCL-XL, and MCL-1) are highly expressed in cervical cancer 
tissues compared to the normal cervical epithelia. Despite these reports, 
targeting these proteins for cervical cancer treatment has not been explored 
extensively. BH3-mimetics that inhibit specific BCL-2 anti-apoptotic proteins 
may hold encouraging treatment outcomes for cervical cancer management. Hence, 
the aim of this pilot study is to investigate the sensitivity of cervical cancer 
cell lines to combination of two BH3-mimetics namely ABT-263 which selectively 
inhibits BCL-2, BCL-XL and BCL-w and A-1210477, a selective MCL-1 inhibitor.
RESULTS: We report that combination of A-1210477 and ABT-263 exhibited 
synergistic effects on all cervical cancer cell lines tested. Drug sensitization 
studies revealed that A-1210477 sensitised the cervical cancer cell lines SiHa 
and CaSki to ABT-263 by 11- and fivefold, respectively. Sensitization also 
occurred in the opposite direction whereby ABT-263 sensitised SiHa and CaSki to 
A-1210477 by eightfold. This report shows that combination of ABT-263 and 
A-1210477 could be a potential treatment strategy for cervical cancer. Extensive 
drug mechanistic studies and drug sensitivity studies in physiological models 
are necessary to unleash the prospect of this combination for cervical cancer 
therapy.