Synchrotron radiation-based experimental determination of the optimal energy for cell radiotoxicity enhancement following photoelectric effect on stable iodinated compounds

This study was designed to experimentally evaluate the optimal X-ray energy for increasing the radiation energy absorbed in tumours loaded with iodinated compounds, using the photoelectric effect. SQ20B human cells were irradiated with synchrotron monochromatic beam tuned at 32.8, 33.5, 50 and 70 keV. Two cell treatments were compared to the control: cells suspended in 10 mg ml1 of iodine radiological contrast agent or cells pre-exposed with 10 mM of iodo-desoxyuridine (IUdR) for 48 h. Our radiobiological end point was clonogenic cell survival. Cells irradiated with both iodine compounds exhibited a radiation sensitisation enhancement. Moreover, it was energy dependent, with a maximum at 50 keV. At this energy, the sensitisation calculated at 10% survival was equal to 2.03 for cells suspended in iodinated contrast agent and 2.60 for IUdR. Cells pretreated with IUdR had higher sensitisation factors over the energy range than for those suspended in iodine contrast agent. Also, their survival curves presented no shoulder, suggesting complex lethal damages from Auger electrons. Our results confirm the existence of the 50 keV energy optimum for a binary therapeutic irradiation based on the presence of stable iodine in tumours and an external irradiation. Monochromatic synchrotron radiotherapy concept is hence proposed for increasing the differential effect between healthy and cancerous tissue irradiation

Essential versus accessory aspects of cell death: recommendations of the NCCD 2015

Cells exposed to extreme physicochemical or mechanical stimuli die in an uncontrollable manner, as a result of their immediate structural breakdown. Such an unavoidable variant of cellular demise is generally referred to as ‘accidental cell death’ (ACD). In most settings, however, cell death is initiated by a genetically encoded apparatus, correlating with the fact that its course can be altered by pharmacologic or genetic interventions. ‘Regulated cell death’ (RCD) can occur as part of physiologic programs or can be activated once adaptive responses to perturbations of the extracellular or intracellular microenvironment fail. The biochemical phenomena that accompany RCD may be harnessed to classify it into a few subtypes, which often (but not always) exhibit stereotyped morphologic features. Nonetheless, efficiently inhibiting the processes that are commonly thought to cause RCD, such as the activation of executioner caspases in the course of apoptosis, does not exert true cytoprotective effects in the mammalian system, but simply alters the kinetics of cellular demise as it shifts its morphologic and biochemical correlates. Conversely, bona fide cytoprotection can be achieved by inhibiting the transduction of lethal signals in the early phases of the process, when adaptive responses are still operational. Thus, the mechanisms that truly execute RCD may be less understood, less inhibitable and perhaps more homogeneous than previously thought. Here, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death formulates a set of recommendations to help scientists and researchers to discriminate between essential and accessory aspects of cell death

In Vivo Studies in NCT with a Boronated Porphyrin and Tumor Growth Delay as an End Point

The robust carrying capacity of the porphyrin molecule and its propensity for localizing in tumor justified the synthesizing of a porphyrin labeled with boron for use in BNCT. However, problems associated with poor solubility impeded the utility of the molecule. Until BOPP was synthesized porphyrins were promising, but impractical. After in vitro experiments had demonstrated the biological efficacy of BOPP and had confirmed its intracellular localizing ability in vivo studies were carried out using mice. Irradiation of KHJJ murine mammary carcinoma to the TCD[sub 50] in a single fraction was precluded since this whole body dose is lethal. This problem was overcome by the use of radiation. BOPP was administered either as three 0.5 ml injections per day over two days or by continuous i.v. infusion, 2 ml per day over three days for a total dose of about 42 [mu]g [sup 10]B/gbw. Boron-10 distribution in the tumor at the time of irradiation was [approximately]20 [mu]g

A Comparison of the Dose-Rbe and the Biological Dosimetry Approaches for Treatment Planning in Bnct

Treatment planning for clinical trials with boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is complicated substantially by the fact that the radiation field generated by the activating external neutron beam is composed of several different types of radiation, i.e., fast neutrons, recoil protons from elastic collisions with hydrogen, gamma rays from the reactor and from neutron capture by body hydrogen, protons from nitrogen capture, and the products of the NCT interaction. Furthermore, the relative contribution of each type of radiation varies with depth in tissue. Because each of these radiations has its own RBE, and the RBE of the fast neutron component will not be constant as the neutron spectrum changes with depth, the problem of predicting the severity of the biological effect, in depth, becomes complex indeed. In order to attack this problem, Monte Carlo calculations of dose, checked against benchmark measurements, are employed. Two approaches are then used to assess the severity of the effect. In the first, the effective dose (D[sub EF]) is determined by summing the products of (D[center dot]RBE) for each radiation. The other approach involves placing cells at the location for which the D[sub EF] was calculated. Using a dose-response curvefrom a low-LET radiation, e.g. [sup 137]Cs gamma rays (D[sub [gamma]Ca]), the photon equivalent dose (PED, or D[sub P]) can be determined. If the RBE values used are correct, the D[sub EF] and the D[sub P] should be essentially identical