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Objectives: The major goal of anti-cancer therapies is selective destruction of tumour cells with minimum side effects on normal cells. Towards this aim, combination of different therapeutic modalities has been evaluated for improving control of neoplastic diseases and quality of life for the patient. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a procedure for treatment of various types of cancer, but its combination with other established treatments has not been evaluated in detail. We have used KYSE-510 cells from a human oesophageal carcinoma as an in vitro model to investigate whether cisplatin (CDDP) could be combined with PDT to increase cell death with respect to single treatments. Materials and methods: p53-mutated KYSE-510 cells were treated with CDDP alone or in combination with PDT. Analyses of cell viability, cell cycle progression and apoptosis induction were carried out at specific times after treatments. Results: Decrease in cell viability, cell cycle arrest at the G2/M- and S-phases boundary, and apoptosis induction were observed after single and combined treatments. Conclusions: Our results show that low CDDP doses (0.25–1 μm) induce cell mortality and cell cycle perturbation, which were more evident when given in combination with PDT, but in contrast to work of other authors no synergistic activity was found. Apoptosis occurred via intrinsic pathways in treated cells, although it did not represent the predominant mode of cell death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]