Caffeine-induced modulation of the lethal action of X rays on Chinese hamster V79 cells.

Caffeine-mediated enhancement of the killing of V79 cells by 220-kV X rays at various times in the cell cycle was compared with that of HeLa cells by measuring (i) the dependence of cell survival on the duration of treatment with 5-10 mM caffeine, (ii) the effect of caffeine treatment on the X-ray dose-survival curve, and (iii) the loss of sensitivity to caffeine as a function of time after irradiation. The behavior of V79, while similar in many respects to that of HeLa (reported previously), differs in several ways. Caffeine treatment causes rapid killing immediately after irradiation irrespective of cell age, while HeLa is refractory in S phase and highly sensitive in G2. As with HeLa, the (multitarget) dose-survival curve parameters are reduced by caffeine treatment, but the age-dependent fluctuations in D0 are not eliminated as completely as with HeLa and the extrapolation number assumes values less than unity in the latter part of the cycle rather than in the early part. Loss of sensitivity to caffeine after irradiation early in the cycle appears to undergo a transient reversal in the middle of the cycle, a phenomenon not observed in HeLa.