Radiation response and cure rate of human colon adenocarcinoma spheroids of different size: the significance of hypoxia on tumor control modelling.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the adequacy of a Poisson tumor control probability (tcp) model and the impact of hypoxia on tumor cure.


METHODS
A human colon adenocarcinoma cell line, WiDr, was grown as multicellular spheroids of different diameters. Measurements were made of cell survival and spheroid cure following 300-kV X-ray external beam irradiation in air and nitrogen. Cell survival data were fitted using a two-compartment and an oxygen diffusion model. Spheroid cure data were fitted using the tcp model.


RESULTS
Hypoxia was seen only for spheroids greater than 500 microm in diameter. For small spheroids tcp estimates of radiosensitivity and clonogenic number showed excellent agreement with experimentally derived values. For large spheroids, although tcp estimates of radiosensitivity were comparable with measurements, estimates of the clonogenic number were considerably lower than the experimental count. Reoxygenation of large spheroids before irradiation resulted in the tcp estimates of the number of clonogenic cells agreeing with measured values.


CONCLUSIONS
When hypoxia was absent, the tcp model accurately predicted cure from measured radiosensitivity and clonogen number. When hypoxia was present, the number of cells capable of regrowth in situ was considerably lower than the number of clonogenic cells that initially survived irradiation. As this counteracted the decreased radiosensitivity, hypoxia was less important for cure than predicted from cell survival assays. This finding suggests that chronic hypoxia may not limit directly the success of radiation therapy.
Department of Physics, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Trust, London, England, United Kingdom. fbuffa@icr.ac.uk
F M
FM
Buffa
C
C
West
K
K
Byrne
J V
JV
Moore
A E
AE
Nahum
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D000465:Algorithms; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D002470:Cell Survival; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011853:Radiobiology; D018874:Spheroids, Cellular / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D010100:Oxygen