Predictive testing of radiosensitivity in non-small cell carcinoma of the lung

Determination of cell survival after irradiation via clonogenic assay versus multiple MTT Assay--a comparative study

For studying proliferation and determination of survival of cancer cells after irradiation, the multiple MTT assay, based on the reduction of a yellow water soluble tetrazolium salt to a purple water insoluble formazan dye by living cells was modified from a single-point towards a proliferation assay. This assay can be performed with a large number of samples in short time using multi-well-plates, assays can be performed semi-automatically with a microplate reader. Survival, the calculated parameter in this assay, is determined mathematically. Exponential growth in both control and irradiated groups was proven as the underlying basis of the applicability of the multiple MTT assay. The equivalence to a clonogenic survival assay with its disadvantages such as time consumption was proven in two setups including plating of cells before and after irradiation. Three cell lines (A 549, LN 229 and F 98) were included in the experiment to study its principal and general applicability.

Influence of hypoxia on tracer accumulation in squamous-cell carcinoma: in vitro evaluation for PET imaging

Hypoxic accumulation of 2-[5,6-3H]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([3H]FDG),L-[methyl-3H] methionine ([3H]MET), and L-[1-3H]leucine ([3H]LEU) was evaluated in two cell lines (UT-SCC-5 and UT-SCC-20) obtained from patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Both cell lines were exposed to decreasing oxygen atmosphere (20%, 1.5%, or 0% O2) for 6 h, after which they were incubated for a further 1 h with tritiated FDG, MET, or LEU. An anoxic atmosphere resulted in a mean increase of [3H]FDG uptake of 120% and 46% over a baseline 20% oxygen atmosphere for UT-SCC-5 and UT-SCC-20A, respectively. Both total and acid-precipitable [3H]MET uptake remained unchanged at 0% versus baseline, whereas acid-precipitable [3H]LEU uptake decreased by 46% for UT-SCC-5 and by 34% for UT-SCC-20A at 0% O2. Our findings demonstrate that [3H]FDG accumulation is increased in hypoxic UT-SCC cell lines probably through activation of the metabolic steps associated with the glycolytic pathway. The decrease in acid-precipitable [3H]LEU uptake in hypoxia may indicate a decline in protein synthesis, whereas the unchanged [3H]MET uptake probably reflects the unaffected amino acid transport and slow incorporation of radiolabeled methyl group of MET in tumor proteins and nucleic acids. FDG and LEU, but probably not MET, warrant additional study as hypoxia-avid or hypoxia-reduced tracers for assessment of treatment effects designed to modify hypoxia.