Radiation sensitivity of cell strains from families with genetic disorders predisposing to radiation-induced cancer.
This investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that skin fibroblasts from patients with genetic disorders characterized by hypersusceptibility to X-ray-induced cancer are sensitive to the cytotoxic or clastogenic effects of X-irradiation in vitro. Cell strains were established from 28 specifically ascertained patients from families with nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome, retinoblastoma, or other disorders apparently predisposing to radiation-induced cancer. These included 10 patients with a clear personal or family history of radiation-induced tumors. These cell strains were examined for the cytotoxic effects of X-irradiation in 3 distinct series of separate, blinded experiments, along with a group of 9 similarly coded cell bank controls. Cells from 11 of these patients and 6 controls were studied for sensitivity to X-ray-induced chromosomal aberrations. Seven of the 37 cell strains were moderately hypersensitive to radiation-induced cell killing; 2 of these were from patients with radiation-induced tumors and 1 was a cell bank control. These results suggest that such isolated cases of hypersensitivity probably do not relate to the underlying genetic disorder. Overall, the X-ray response of cells from affected individuals in this study showed no systematic difference from that of cells from nonaffected relatives or cell bank controls for either cytotoxicity or clastogenicity.
Department of Cancer Biology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
J B
JB
Little
W W
WW
Nichols
P
P
Troilo
H
H
Nagasawa
L C
LC
Strong
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001478:Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome / Q000235:genetics; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007399:Interphase / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000235:genetics*; D011836:Radiation Tolerance; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000235:genetics