Chromosomal radiosensitivity of human breast carcinoma cells and blood lymphocytes following photon and proton exposures

• Published in: Radiation and environmental biophysics Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 151 - 160
• Main Authors: Kowalska, Agata, Nasonova, Elena, Kutsalo, Polina, Czerski, Konrad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-03-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Blood; Bragg curve; Breast cancer; Breast carcinoma; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Chromosome Aberrations; Chromosome rearrangements; Chromosomes; Cytogenetics; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Ecosystems; Effects of Radiation/Radiation Protection; Efficiency; Environmental Physics; Female; Gamma rays; Humans; Ionizing radiation; Irradiation; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes - radiation effects; Metaphase; Molecular modelling; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Original; Original Article; Parameters; Peripheral blood; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Proton beams; Protons; Radiation; Radiation therapy; Radiation Tolerance; Radiosensitivity; Response functions; Tumor cells; Proton radiotherapy; Premature chromosome condensation; Breast cancer cells; Linear-quadratic model; Chromosome aberrations
• ISSN: 0301-634X; 1432-2099
• DOI: 10.1007/s00411-023-01016-5

Breast carcinomas (BC) are among the most frequent cancers in women. Studies on radiosensitivity and ionizing radiation response of BC cells are scarce and mainly focused on intrinsic molecular mechanisms but do not include clinically relevant features as chromosomal rearrangements important for radiotherapy. The main purpose of this study was to compare the ionizing radiation response and efficiency of repair mechanisms of human breast carcinoma cells (Cal 51) and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) for different doses and radiation qualities (
60
Co γ-rays, 150 MeV and spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) proton beams). The radiation response functions obtained using the conventional metaphase assay and premature chromosome condensation (PCC) technique enabled us to determine the number of chromosomal breaks at different time after irradiation. Both cytogenetic assays used confirmed the higher biological radiosensitivity for proton beams in tumor cells compared to PBL, corresponding to higher values of the linear LQ parameter α. additionally, the ratio of the LQ parameters β/α describing efficiency of the repair mechanisms, obtained for chromosome aberrations, showed higher numbers for PBL than for Cal 51 for all exposures. Similar results were observed for the ratio of PCC breaks determined directly after irradiation to that obtained 12 h later. This parameter (t0/t12) showed faster decrease of the repair efficiency with increasing LET value for Cal 51 cells. This finding supports the use of the proton therapy for breast cancer patients.