الفهرس 
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Abstract
Treatment of advanced HNSCC remains a daunting clinical problem. Despite an armamentarium that includes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, survival in HNSCC has not improved over the past four decades.
Chemotherapy frequently remains one of few or the only alternative that can be offered to the patient. Many patients do not respond to chemotherapy treatment any longer. Frequently one can observe resistance to cisplatin, the major chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of head and neck cancer, which to a large extent limits the prognosis of the patient. In addition, the toxic effect of cisplatin limits the use of high concentration of the drug.
Therefore, to find ways to overcome cisplatin resistance in head and neck, as well as other cancers, without affecting normal body cells is a major focus of many research projects.
A correct diet can significantly decrease the cancer rate and there is considerable interest in the discovery of additional novel natural products and their semisynthetic analogs as potential cancer chemotherapeutic drugs or as adjuvant to traditional chemotherapy in the treatment of HNSCC.
Quercetin (3, 3′, 4′, 5, 7-pentahydroxyflavone) is a type of plant-based flavonoid commonly found in nature. Quercetin has antiproliferation, antioxidant, antiulcer, apoptosis induction and anti-cancer characteristics. It can be used as an adjuvant to cisplatin.
The present study aimed to investigate the possible cytotoxic effect of cisplatin, quercetin and their combination on HEp-2 cell line, one of HNSCC cell lines.
To achieve these goals, three techniques were utilized (cytotoxicity assay, nuclear morphometric analysis and flow cytometry).
The data obtained by various techniques revealed that both cisplatin and quercetin are cytotoxic to HEp-2 cell line and that quercetin enhances the effects of cisplatin on malignant cells.