Cold Plasma and Acid Treatment Modification Effects on Phonolite

A sample of phonolite was treated by cold plasma and hydrochloric acid diluted in water to study the change of its structure and acid properties. The phonolite and treated samples were analysed by XRD, elemental analysis XRF, specific surface area BET, TPD-NH3 and FT-IR spectroscopy. They were also tested in the adsorption of Ca, K, Mg, P and Na impurities present in waste cooking oil. Plasma treated sample presented almost the same structure with some surface differences respect to the original phonolite. However, acid treated sample presented bigger total surface compared to the other samples, different structure, composition and acid properties.

Comparison of the Radiosensitizing Effect of ATR, ATM and DNA-PK Kinase Inhibitors on Cervical Carcinoma Cells

Here, we compared the effects of inhibitors of three phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-related kinases, ATM, ATR a DNA-PK, on radiosensitization of cervical carcinoma cells. We demonstrated that DNA-PK inhibitor NU7441 enhanced phosphorylation of Chk1 and Chk2 kinases 2 h after irradiation of HeLa cells at a dose of 8 Gy in contrast to ATM kinase inhibitor KU55933, which completely blocked the Chk2 kinase phosphorylation on threonine 68, and ATR kinase inhibitor VE-821, which blocked the Chk1 kinase phosphorylation on serine 345. Most HeLa cells were accumulated in G2 phase of the cell cycle 24 h after irradiation at a high dose of 15 Gy, which was even potentiated after adding the inhibitors NU7441 and KU55933. Compared to all other irradiated groups, inhibitor VE-821 increased the number of cells in S phase and reduced the number of cells in G2 phase 24 h after irradiation at the high dose of 15 Gy. HeLa cells entered the mitotic cycle with unrepaired DNA, which resulted in cell death and the radiosensitizing effect of VE-821. Short-term application of the inhibitors (2 h before and 30 min after the irradiation by the dose of 8 Gy) significantly decreased the colony-forming ability of HeLa cells. Using real-time monitoring of cell proliferation by the xCELLigence system we demonstrated that while the radiosensitizing effect of VE-821 (ATR inhibitor) is manifested early after the irradiation, the radiosensitizing effect of KU55933 (ATM inhibitor) and NU7441 (DNA-PK inhibitor) is only observed as late as 72 h after the irradiation.

Radio-Sensitization of Human Leukaemic MOLT-4 Cells by DNA-Dependent Protein Kinase Inhibitor, NU7026

In this paper we describe the influence of NU7026, a specific inhibitor of DNA-dependent protein kinase, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, and ATM-kinase on molecular and cellular mechanisms triggered by ionising irradiation in human T-lymphocyte leukaemic MOLT-4 cells. We studied the effect of this inhibitor (10 μM) combined with gammaradiation (1 Gy) leading to DNA damage response and induction of apoptosis. We used methods for apoptosis assessment (cell viability count and flow-cytometric analysis) and cell cycle analysis (DNA content measurement) and we detected expression and post-translational modifications (Western blotting) of proteins involved in DNA repair signalling pathways. Pre-treatment with NU7026 resulted into decreased activation of checkpoint kinase-2 (Thr68), p53 (Ser15and Ser392), and histone H2A.X (Ser139) 2 hours after irradiation. Subsequently, combination of radiation and inhibitor led to decreased amount of cells in G2-phase arrest and into increased apoptosis after 72 hours. Our results indicate that in leukaemic cells the pre-incubation with inhibitor NU7026 followed by low doses of ionising radiation results in radio-sensitising of MOLT-4 cells via diminished DNA repair and delayed but pronounced apoptosis. This novel approach might offer new strategies in combined treatment of leukaemia diseases.

Inhibition of ATR kinase with the selective inhibitor VE-821 results in radiosensitization of cells of promyelocytic leukaemia (HL-60)

We compared the effects of inhibitors of kinases ATM (KU55933) and ATR (VE-821) (incubated for 30 min before irradiation) on the radiosensitization of human promyelocyte leukaemia cells (HL-60), lacking functional protein p53. VE-821 reduces phosphorylation of check-point kinase 1 at serine 345, and KU55933 reduces phosphorylation of check-point kinase 2 on threonine 68 as assayed 4 h after irradiation by the dose of 6 Gy. Within 24 h after gamma-irradiation with a dose of 3 Gy, the cells accumulated in the G2 phase (67 %) and the number of cells in S phase decreased. KU55933 (10 μM) did not affect the accumulation of cells in G2 phase and did not affect the decrease in the number of cells in S phase after irradiation. VE-821 (2 and 10 μM) reduced the number of irradiated cells in the G2 phase to the level of non-irradiated cells and increased the number of irradiated cells in S phase, compared to irradiated cells not treated with inhibitors. In the 144 h interval after irradiation with 3 Gy, there was a considerable induction of apoptosis in the VE-821 group (10 μM). The repair of the radiation damage, as observed 72 h after irradiation, was more rapid in the group exposed solely to irradiation and in the group treated with KU55933 (80 and 77 % of cells, respectively, were free of DSBs), whereas in the group incubated with 10 μM VE-821, there were only 61 % of cells free of DSBs. The inhibition of kinase ATR with its specific inhibitor VE-821 resulted in a more pronounced radiosensitizing effect in HL-60 cells as compared to the inhibition of kinase ATM with the inhibitor KU55933. In contrast to KU55933, the VE-821 treatment prevented HL-60 cells from undergoing G2 cell cycle arrest. Taken together, we conclude that the ATR kinase inhibition offers a new possibility of radiosensitization of tumour cells lacking functional protein p53.

Lymphocyte subsets and their H2AX phosphorylation in response to in vivo irradiation in rats

PURPOSE

The objective of the study was to investigate differences in the radiosensitivity of rat peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets identified by expression of surface clusters of differentiation markers (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD45RA, CD161) after whole-body in vivo gamma-ray irradiation and to assess their individual histone H2AX phosphorylation as an early cell response to irradiation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The relative representations of CD45RA B-lymphocytes, CD161 natural killer cells (NK cells), CD3CD4 T-lymphocyte subset and CD3CD8 T-lymphocyte subset in the rat peripheral blood were studied 24-72 hours after irradiation in a dose range of 0-5 Gy. Their intracellular H2AX phosphorylation (γ-H2AX) after 4 Gy and 9 Gy whole-body in vivo irradiation was assessed by multicolour flow cytometry.

RESULTS

We determined the linear dose response of radioresistant CD161 NK cells (24 h), both radiosensitive T-lymphocyte subsets (24 h) and CD45RA B-lymphocytes (72 h) after in vivo irradiation. CD45RA B-lymphocytes showed the highest radiosensitivity and we observed pronounced H2AX phosphorylation which remained expressed in these cells for over 4 h after irradiation.

CONCLUSION

The combination of the surface immunophenotyping together with intracellular detection of γ-H2AX offers the possibility to assess the absorbed dose of ionizing irradiation with high sensitivity post irradiation and could be successfully applied to biodosimetry.

Exposure to fractionated dose of 60 Gy affects molecular response of HL-60 cells to irradiation

In this work we evaluated changes in molecular response of human promyelocyte leukemia cells HL-60 and HL-60-IR cells (HL-60 irradiated by 10 cycles of radiation with total dose of 60 Gy, given over a period of 3 months) to irradiation by the dose of 2 and 8 Gy. Analysis of CD11b and apoptosis by flow-cytometry revealed that on 3rd day after irradiation by 8 Gy the HL-60-IR are more resistant to radiation-induced apoptosis and more differentiated (increase in CD11b in non-apoptotic cells) than regular HL-60. We found that both types of cells have high basal level of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinases Erk1/2 . Irradiation induces decrease in Erk1/2 phosphorylation after 4 and 8 h in both cell types. However, in HL-60-IR cells Erk1/2 phosphorylation is restored faster than in HL-60. Also it was found that in contrary to HL-60 cells, the HL-60-IR cells react to 2 Gy irradiation by p53 independent increase in p21(WAF1/Cip1), and not by activation of checkpoint kinase Chk-2. Therefore we concluded that relatively high dose of radiation (6 Gy) does not lead after 10 repetitive irradiations to eradication of HL-60 cells, but instead increases their radioresistance, increases the ability to differentiate, alters MAPK response, increases amount of p21(WAF1/Cip1), and decreases induction of apoptosis by ionizing radiation. p21(WAF1/Cip1) might prevent apoptosis induction and trigger permanent cell-cycle arrest, which can also contribute to regression of this leukaemia after therapy.