The synergistic antitumor effect of Huaier combined with 5-Florouracil in human cholangiocarcinoma cells

Table 2 The dose of Huaier or 5-FU alone to achieve the same fraction affected level of in-combination and the dose reduction index (DRI) values for Huaier combined with 5-FU after 24 h

Fa of combination	Dose of Huaier (mg/ml)	Dose of 5-FU (μg/ml)	DRI of Huaier	DRI of 5-FU
18.10%	5.02	9.46	3.34	1.26
25.20%	6.63	21.26	2.21	1.42
50.90%	13.96	184.34	2.33	6.14
67.40%	22.05	694.58	1.84	11.58
81.20%	35.91	2861.14	1.5	23.84

The DRI indicates the fold of the dose reduction of tested Huaier and 5-FU in-combination compared with that of each individual drug. To achieve a 50.9% of inhibiting effect in Huh28 cells proliferation when the CI was at the lowest (0.59, as listed in Table 1A) in combination after 24 h, the concentrations of Huaier and 5-FU were reduced 2.33~ folds and 6.14~folds in combination, while their individual dose reached to 13.96 mg/ml and 184.34 μg/ml