title: Growth of V79 cells as xenograft tumors promotes multicellular resistance but does not increase spontaneous or radiation-induced mutant frequency.
abstract: A Chinese hamster V79 xenograft model was developed to determine whether cells subjected to a hypoxic tumor microenvironment would be more likely to undergo mutation at the HPRT locus. V79-171b cells stably transfected with VEGF and EGFP were grown subcutaneously in immunodeficient NOD/ SCID mice. V79-VE tumors were characterized for host cell infiltration, doubling time, hypoxic fraction, vascular perfusion, and response to ionizing radiation. When irradiated in vitro, the mutant frequency for a given surviving fraction did not differ for cells grown in vivo or in vitro. Similar results were obtained using HCT116 human colorectal carcinoma cells grown as xenografts. However, V79-VE cells grown as xenografts were significantly more resistant to killing than monolayers. The background mutant frequency and the radiation-induced mutant frequency did not differ for tumor cells close to or distant from blood vessels. Similarly, tumor cells from well-perfused regions showed the same rate of strand break rejoining and the same rate of loss of phosphorylated histone H2AX as cells sorted from poorly perfused regions. Therefore, deleterious effects of the tumor microenvironment on DNA repair efficiency or mutation induction could not be demonstrated in these tumors. Rather, development of multicellular resistance in V79-VE tumors acted to reduce mutant frequency for a given dose of radiation.
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z 1L3.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Banáth
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sinnott
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Larrivée
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: MacPhail
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Olive
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006224:Cricetinae; D004249:DNA Damage; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011836:Radiation Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers