Radioresistance in a tumour cell line correlates with radiation inducible Ku 70/80 end-binding activity

Understanding the Radiobiology of Vestibular Schwannomas to Overcome Radiation Resistance

Vestibular schwannomas (VS) are benign tumors arising from cranial nerve VIII that account for 8-10% of all intracranial tumors and are the most common tumors of the cerebellopontine angle. These tumors are typically managed with observation, radiation therapy, or microsurgical resection. Of the VS that are irradiated, there is a subset of tumors that are radioresistant and continue to grow; the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not fully understood. In this review, the authors summarize how radiation causes cellular and DNA injury that can activate (1) checkpoints in the cell cycle to initiate cell cycle arrest and DNA repair and (2) key events that lead to cell death. In addition, we discuss the current knowledge of VS radiobiology and how it may contribute to clinical outcomes. A better understanding of VS radiobiology can help optimize existing treatment protocols and lead to new therapies to overcome radioresistance.

DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit inhibitor reverses acquired radioresistance in lung adenocarcinoma by suppressing DNA repair

The mechanisms underlying lung cancer radioresistance remain to be fully elucidated. The DNA repair pathway is a predominant target of radiotherapy, which is considered to be involved in the acquired radioresistance of cancer cells. The present study aimed to establish a radioresistant cell model using the A549 human lung cancer cell line, and to further investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the radioresistance. The A549R radioresistant lung cancer cell variant was established by exposing the parental A549 cells to repeated γ-ray irradiation at a total dose of 60 Gy. Colony formation assays were then used to determine cell survival following γ-ray exposure. The established radioresistant cells were subsequently treated with or without the NU7026 DNA-PKcs inhibitor. The levels of DNA damage were determined by counting the number of fluorescent γ-H2AX foci in the cells. The cellular capacity for DNA repair was assessed using antibodies for the detection of various DNA repair pathway proteins. The radioresistant sub-clones exhibited significantly decreased survival following NU7026 treatment, compared with the parental cells, as determined by colony formation assays (P<0.05), and this finding was found to be dose-dependent. Treatment with the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) inhibitor significantly reduced γ-H2AX foci formation (P<0.05) following acute radiation exposure in the radioresistant sub-clones, compared with the parental control cells. The decreased levels of γ-H2AX were accompanied by an increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells in the radioresistant cell line following post-radiation treatment with the DNA-PKcs inhibitor. The expression levels of proteins associated with the DNA repair pathway were altered markedly in the cells treated with NU7026. The results of the present study suggested that radioresistance may be associated with enhanced DNA repair following exposure to radiation, resulting in reduced apoptosis. Therefore, the quantity of γ-H2AX determines the radioresistance of cells. The DNA repair pathway is important in mediating radioresistance, and treatment with the DNA-PKcs inhibitor, NU7026 restored the acquired radiation resistance.

Imatinib radiosensitizes bladder cancer by targeting homologous recombination

Radiotherapy is a major treatment modality used to treat muscle-invasive bladder cancer, with patient outcomes similar to surgery. However, radioresistance is a significant factor in treatment failure. Cell-free extracts of muscle-invasive bladder tumors are defective in nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ), and this phenotype may be used clinically by combining radiotherapy with a radiosensitizing drug that targets homologous recombination, thereby sparing normal tissues with intact NHEJ. The response of the homologous recombination protein RAD51 to radiation is inhibited by the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib. Stable RT112 bladder cancer Ku knockdown (Ku80KD) cells were generated using short hairpin RNA technology to mimic the invasive tumor phenotype and also RAD51 knockdown (RAD51KD) cells to show imatinib's pathway selectivity. Ku80KD, RAD51KD, nonsilencing vector control, and parental RT112 cells were treated with radiation in combination with either imatinib or lapatinib, which inhibits NHEJ and cell survival assessed by clonogenic assay. Drug doses were chosen at approximately IC40 and IC10 (nontoxic) levels. Imatinib radiosensitized Ku80KD cells to a greater extent than RAD51KD or RT112 cells. In contrast, lapatinib radiosensitized RAD51KD and RT112 cells but not Ku80KD cells. Taken together, our findings suggest a new application for imatinib in concurrent use with radiotherapy to treat muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Cancer Res; 73(5); 1611-20. ©2012 AACR.

Radiotherapy response in microsatellite instability related rectal cancer

Preoperative radiotherapy may improve the resectability and subsequent local control of rectal cancers. However, the extent of radiation induced regression in these tumours varies widely between individuals. To date no reliable predictive marker of radiation sensitivity in rectal cancer has been identified. At the cellular level, radiation injury initiates a complex molecular network of DNA damage response (DDR) pathways that leads to cell cycle arrest, attempts at re-constituting the damaged DNA and should this fail, then apoptosis. This review presents the details which suggest the roles of DNA mismatch repair proteins, the lack of which define a distinct subset of colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability (MSI), in the DDR pathways. Hence routine assessment of the MSI status in rectal cancers may potentially serve as a predictor of radiotherapy response, thereby improving patient stratification in the administration of this otherwise toxic treatment.

A bioinformatics filtering strategy for identifying radiation response biomarker candidates

The number of biomarker candidates is often much larger than the number of clinical patient data points available, which motivates the use of a rational candidate variable filtering methodology. The goal of this paper is to apply such a bioinformatics filtering process to isolate a modest number (<10) of key interacting genes and their associated single nucleotide polymorphisms involved in radiation response, and to ultimately serve as a basis for using clinical datasets to identify new biomarkers. In step 1, we surveyed the literature on genetic and protein correlates to radiation response, in vivo or in vitro, across cellular, animal, and human studies. In step 2, we analyzed two publicly available microarray datasets and identified genes in which mRNA expression changed in response to radiation. Combining results from Step 1 and Step 2, we identified 20 genes that were common to all three sources. As a final step, a curated database of protein interactions was used to generate the most statistically reliable protein interaction network among any subset of the 20 genes resulting from Steps 1 and 2, resulting in identification of a small, tightly interacting network with 7 out of 20 input genes. We further ranked the genes in terms of likely importance, based on their location within the network using a graph-based scoring function. The resulting core interacting network provides an attractive set of genes likely to be important to radiation response.

Comparison of cellular damage response to low-dose-rate 125I seed irradiation and high-dose-rate gamma irradiation in human lung cancer cells

PURPOSE

To investigate the difference of cellular response between low-dose-rate (LDR) 125I seed irradiation and high-dose-rate (HDR) γ-irradiation in human lung cancer cells.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

A549 and NCI-H446 cells with or without wortmannin (WM) treatment were exposed to 125I seeds and γ-rays, respectively. Cell survival, micronuclei (MN) formation, and the expressions of Ku70/Ku80 proteins were measured.

RESULTS

There was a strong negative correlation between survival and MN formation for both irradiations, and the MN inductions of NCI-H446 were about twofolds of those of A549, and the survival of NCI-H446 was lower than that of A549, indicating the radiosensitivity of NCI-H446 cells was greater than that of A549 cells. Interestingly, at 4-Gy radiation, NCI-H446 cells were more sensitive to LDR irradiation than HDR irradiation. WM treatment enhanced the radiosensitivity of A549 cells evenly to (125I seed and γ-irradiation, but this treatment led NCI-H446 cells to be more sensitive to LDR 125I. Further results revealed that the expression of phosphorylated Ku80 protein was enhanced in irradiated A549, but in contrast, it was markedly decreased in NCI-H446 cells after 4-Gy LDR 125I irradiation as that compared with γ-irradiated and nonirradiated cells.

CONCLUSION

NCI-H446 cells were more sensitive to LDR 125I irradiation than HDR irradiation, and this sensitivity could be further enhanced by WM treatment. But no obvious differences of cellular response to both irradiations were observed in A549. Ku as molecular markers together with cell proliferation rate can be used to predict the radiosensitivity of tumor cells to LDR 125I seed irradiation.

Up-regulation of HIV-1 transduction in nondividing cells by double-strand DNA break-inducing agents

Efficient HIV-1 transduction depends on a number of cellular co-factors. Cellular double-strand DNA break (DSB) repair proteins have been proposed, by ourselves and others, to be required for efficient HIV-1 transduction. Expression and/or activity of these DNA repair proteins can be induced by the introduction of DSBs into the host cell genome. HIV-1 transduction was up-regulated by treatment with DSB-inducing agents in both drug-arrested cells and differentiated neuronal cells. The presented data support the hypothesis that DSB repair proteins are involved in the early steps of the retroviral life-cycle.

Response to multiple radiation doses of human colorectal carcinoma cells infected with recombinant adenovirus containing dominant-negative Ku70 fragment

PURPOSE

To investigate the effect of recombinant replication-defective adenovirus containing dominant-negative Ku70 fragment on the response of tumor cells to multiple small radiation doses. Our ultimate goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of using this virus in gene-radiotherapy to enhance the radiation response of tumor cells.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Human colorectal HCT8 and HT29 carcinoma cells were plated in glass tubes, infected with virus (25 multiplicity of infection), and irradiated with a single dose or zero to five doses of 3 Gy each at 6-h intervals. Hypoxia was induced by flushing with 100% nitrogen gas. The cells were trypsinized 0 or 6 h after the final irradiation, and cell survival was determined by colony formation. The survival data were fitted to linear-quadratic model or exponential line.

RESULTS

Virus infection enhanced the radiation response of the HCT8 and HT29 cells. The virus enhancement ratio for single-dose irradiation at a surviving fraction of 0.1 was approximately 1.3 for oxic and hypoxic HCT8 and 1.4 and 1.1 for oxic and hypoxic HT29, respectively. A similar virus enhancement ratio of 1.2-1.3 was observed for both oxic and hypoxic cells irradiated with multiple doses; however, these values were smaller than the values found for dominant-negative Ku70-transfected Rat-1 cells. This difference has been discussed. The oxygen enhancement ratio for HCT8 and HT29 receiving fractionated doses was 1.2 and 2.0, respectively, and virus infection altered them slightly.

CONCLUSION

Infection of recombinant replication-defective adenovirus containing dominant-negative Ku70 fragment enhanced the response of human colorectal cancer cells to single and multiple radiation doses.