RESUMO
Objective To understand the variation of the DNA double-strand break rejoining capacity among different cultured cancer cell lines and the primary cancer cells from brain cancer patients,and to explore the predictor of radiotherapy responses of cancers. Methods DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) were induced by 60Co γ-irradiation. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the initial production and rejoining of DNA DSBs. Radiosensitivity was determined by in vitro assay of clonogenic-forming capacity. Results A wide variation of radiosensitivity, e.g. The survival parameter of D0 varied from 0.65 to 2.15 Gy, was displayed among the eight cell lines derived from different type of cancers. Although differential level of initial DNA DSBs induced by 20 Gy γ-rays was observed among various cell lines, it was not correlated with the radiosensitivity. The deficiency of DNA DSB rejoining in radiosensitive cell lines was shown either in the early rapid-rejoining phase (SX-10 cells) or in the late slow-rejoining phase (A2780 cells). A significant relationship was observed between the residual level of DNA DSBs measured at 2 h post-20 Gy irradiation and the cellular radioseusitivity (D0 or SF2). The kinetic curves of rejoining DNA DSBs in the primary human brain tumor cells indicated a variation on DSB rejoining capacity among different individual tumor. The residual level of DNA DSBs after 2 h of rejoining post 20 Gy irradiation in primary human brain tumor cells is compatible to the results obtained in vitro culture cancer cell lines. Conclusions The residual level of DNA DSBs is correlated with radioresistance of cancer cells, and the residual DNA damage is a useful parameter in predicting the response of tumor tissue to radiotherapy.