Figure 2.

Inhibitory effects of simvastatin on the cell growth and cell cycle of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Cells were seeded on plates for 12 h and then treated with various concentrations of simvastatin for 48 h. Cell growth conditions were evaluated using (a) Cell Counting Kit‐8 (b) and colony formation assay, and the distribution of cell cycle fractions was determined using (c) propidium iodide staining as described in the Materials and Methods section. (d) The cells were deprived of their anchorage by suspension culture in polyHEMA‐coated dishes with different concentrations of simvastatin and apoptosis (anoikis) was determined as sub‐G1 phase population. The results were expressed as the mean ± SD. *P < 0.01, significantly different from control.