West C M, Davidson S E, Elyan S A, Swindell R, Roberts S A, Orton C J, Coyle C A, Valentine H, Wilks D P, Hunter R D, Hendry J H
CRC Sections of Genome Damage and Repair, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester, UK.
Int J Radiat Biol. 1998 Apr;73(4):409-13. doi: 10.1080/095530098142248.
To examine whether in vitro measurements of normal and tumour cell radiosensitivity can be used as prognostic factors in clinical oncology.
Stage I-III cervix carcinoma patients were treated with radical radiotherapy with a minimum of 3 years' follow-up. Lymphocyte and tumour radiosensitivities were assayed using, respectively, a limiting dilution and soft agar clonogenic assay to obtain surviving fraction at 2 Gy (SF2). The results were related, in an actuarial analysis, to late morbidity assessed using the Franco Italian glossary.
Patients with radiosensitive lymphocytes had a significantly increased risk of developing late complications (n = 93, p = 0.002). Increasing tumour radiosensitivity was associated with an increased risk of morbidity (n= 113, p=0.032). A significant correlation was found between fibroblast and tumour cell radiosensitivity (r=0.57, p=0.03), but a weak inverse association was found between lymphocyte and tumour cell radiosensitivity (r= -0.32, p=0.03). Patients with radiosensitive lymphocytes and tumour cells had higher levels of late complications than those whose cells were radioresistant.
The work described highlights the importance of cellular radiosensitivity as a parameter determining the clinical response to radiotherapy.
