Lack of cross-resistance to X-irradiation in oxygen-resistant mammalian cell lines.

HeLa and Chinese hamster ovary cells capable of proliferating at O2 levels that are ordinarily lethal to cells in tissue culture were selected by chronic adaptation to stepwise increased oxygen tensions. A popular hypothesis, originally proposed by Gerschman et al., states that the toxic action of both hyperoxia and X rays is based on a common mechanism involving the formation of oxidizing free radicals. Contrary to what may be predicted from this hypothesis we found that our oxygen-resistant substrains were not cross-resistant to X rays, as determined by a clonogenic cell survival assay. These results show that cellular properties governing increased resistance to killing by O2 do not necessarily contribute to cellular X ray tolerance.