The effects of fractionated gamma irradiation on induction of mammary carcinoma in normal and estrogen-treated rats.

The effects of dose fractionation on induction of mammary carcinoma were studied in normal and estrogen-treated female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain. Groups of 40 animals received total-body doses of 1 or 2 Gy of (137)Cs gamma radiation, administered in fractions of 2.5, 10 or 40 mGy with intervals of 12 h, or in fractions of 10 mGy with intervals of 2, 5 or 24 h. The irradiations were started at the age of 8 weeks. Estrogen treatment was accomplished by implantation of a pellet containing estrogen at the age of 6 weeks. All mammary tumors were resected and classified histologically as carcinoma or fibroadenoma. The age-specific incidence of mammary carcinoma was compared with that in control groups of unirradiated normal or estrogen-treated rats and was expressed as excess normalized risk, using lifetime statistical analysis with both parametric and nonparametric methods. The data were also compared to the results of single-dose experiments reported in previous papers. Fractionated irradiation increased the risk of mammary cancer in both normal and estrogen-treated rats compared to the corresponding unirradiated control group. The excess normalized risk per unit of total dose was approximately equal with or without estrogen treatment. Without estrogen treatment, the effects of the single-dose and fractionated irradiations were approximately equal. In estrogen-treated animals, however, single-dose irradiation was up to 15 times more carcinogenic than the fractionated exposures. This fractionation effect appeared to vanish for total doses below approximately 0.3 Gy. With estrogen treatment, the excess normalized risk was significantly higher for dose fractions of 40 mGy than for fractions of 10 mGy. The risk was also markedly higher for fractionation intervals of 2 or 5 h than for intervals of 12 or 24 h. The results of these experiments show that the effects of dose fractionation on the induction of mammary carcinoma may depend on hormonal status, the total dose delivered, the dose per fraction, and the fractionation interval.

Induction of mammary tumors in rats by single-dose gamma irradiation at different ages.

The effect of age at exposure on induction of mammary tumors was studied in female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain. Groups of 40 animals were exposed to a single total-body dose of 1 or 2 Gy of 137Cs gamma radiation at ages of 8, 12, 16, 22, 36 or 64 weeks and were observed for life. Mammary tumors, identified as nodules persisting and growing for 6 weeks, were resected and classified histologically as carcinoma or fibroadenoma. The age-specific incidence of mammary carcinoma was compared with that in a group of 120 unirradiated control rats, using lifetime statistical analysis with both parametric and nonparametric methods. The excess normalized risk of carcinoma was 0.9 for 1 Gy and 2.2 for 2 Gy in age groups 8-36 weeks, with no significant differences between the age groups. However, irradiation at 64 weeks yielded fewer carcinomas than in the controls, the excess normalized risk being -0.7 and -0.3 for 1 and 2 Gy, respectively. The occurrence of one or more fibroadenomas did not influence the incidence of carcinoma. The present data agree closely with the results reported previously for rats irradiated at age 8 or 17 weeks with a dose of 1.2 Gy. The reduced risk of radiation exposure at midlife is consistent with the available epidemiological data for exposed women. Although our findings have been obtained with a single total-body dose that is several orders of magnitude higher than the multiple doses delivered to the mammary gland during mammography, it is suggested that radiological screening for mammary cancer after the age of menopause will not increase the normal incidence of breast cancer.

The influence of estrogen treatment on induction of mammary carcinoma in rats by single-dose gamma irradiation at different ages.

The effect of age at exposure on induction of mammary carcinoma was studied in female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain that were treated with estrogen. Groups of 40 animals were exposed to a single total-body dose of 1 or 2 Gy of 137Cs gamma radiation at age 8, 10, 12, 15, 22, 36 or 64 weeks. Hormone levels in the animals were increased by implantation of a pellet containing Estradiol-17beta 2 weeks prior to irradiation. Animals were killed when moribund. All mammary tumors were resected and classified histologically as carcinoma or fibroadenoma. The age-specific incidence of mammary carcinoma was compared with that in control groups of unirradiated estrogen-treated rats using lifetime statistical analysis with both parametric and nonparametric methods. The excess normalized risk of carcinoma was 7.7 for both 1 and 2 Gy in the age groups 8-15 weeks, with no significant differences between the age groups. However, in the age groups 22-64 weeks, the excess normalized risk decreased with increasing age at exposure. Irradiation at 64 weeks yielded fewer carcinomas than in the controls, with an excess normalized risk of -0.6 for both 1 and 2 Gy. The excess normalized risk was 10-80 in estrogen-treated controls compared to untreated rats. The present data agree with the results reported previously for estrogen-treated rats irradiated at ages 8 or 17 weeks with doses of 0.3 or 1.2 Gy. The reduced risk of radiation exposure at midlife observed in this study in hormone-treated rats has also been reported for animals not treated with estrogens. The present findings support the earlier conclusion that radiological screening for mammary cancer after the age of menopause will not increase the normal incidence of breast cancer. Estrogen treatment at midlife may increase the risk of breast cancer in women using replacement estrogens during and after menopause.

Detection of total- and partial-body irradiation in a monkey model: a comparative study of chromosomal aberration, micronucleus and premature chromosome condensation assays.

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy of three cytogenetic methods (dicentrics, micronuclei (MN) and premature chromosome condensation (PCC) analysis) for assessment of the unirradiated fraction and the persistence of damage after total-body (TB) and partial-body (PB) irradiation of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Animals were exposed to X-rays (5 Gy), either TB or PB, with about 6% of marrow cells shielded. Blood samples were collected at different times after exposure, i.e. 1, 3 and 7 days, and cultures were set up for the different cytogenetic endpoints. In addition, blood count analysis was performed before and after irradiation. RESULTS: Blood count analysis was not suitable for discriminating between TB and PB exposure. By using Poisson or overdispersion distribution as the basis, it was not possible to distinguish TB from PB irradiation when dicentric chromosomes and MN were analysed. PCC analysis, in contrast, showed a Poisson distribution after TB exposure and overdispersion after PB exposure. Using the PCC assay, reliable dose estimates could be obtained up to 7 days after irradiation. CONCLUSIONS: For dicentrics and MN, shielding of 6% of bone marrow cells was found to be too small to estimate the unirradiated fraction accurately. The PCC technique was useful for dose assessment and the inhomogeneous exposure of 6% was detected within a short period of time after exposure.

A common deletion in two gamma ray induced rat pulmonary tumor cell lines.

Subtraction hybridization was performed on normal WAG/Rij rat DNA with DNA from a syngeneic Ir-192 induced pulmonary tumor cell line L37. The residual DNA was amplified by means of sequence-independent PCR. This procedure yielded a sequence, of which multiple copies are present in normal rat DNA. In the tumor line L37 two restriction fragments hybridizing with this repeat sequence are lacking. In another Ir-192 induced pulmonary tumor line, L33, one of these fragments was also lacking. This indicates a common deletion in the two tumor lines.

Plasmid rescue of an oncogenic sequence containing a mouse mammary tumor virus gene.

Plasmid rescue was performed on an oncogenically transformed cell line established by transfection of NIH/3T3 cells with normal mouse DNA and plasmids containing a murine leukemia virus long terminal repeat, and a selectable marker. One of the rescued plasmids contained newly acquired DNA 3,500 basepairs in length. This sequence was present in several extra copies in the parental cell line. It was also found to be transcribed. NIH/3T3 cells transfected with the rescued plasmid proved to be oncogenic in nude mice. The acquired sequence appeared to contain (part of) the long terminal repeat of mouse mammary tumor virus.

Influence of the H-ras oncogene on radiation responses of a rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line.

Rat R2k rhabdomyosarcoma cells were transfected with the human H-ras oncogene, which resulted in increased resistance to cell kill in vitro by a single dose of 137Cs gamma-rays. A subline carrying one oncogene showed an increase in the quasi-threshold dose (Dq) from 0.88 to 1.48 Gy. Another subline containing six oncogenes not only had an increased Dq of 1.59 Gy but also showed an increase in the dose reducing cell survival to a fraction of e-1 = 0.37 (D0) from 1.25 to 1.76 Gy. Analysis of the cell survival data according to the linear-quadratic formalism indicated that a decrease in the value of the coefficient of the linear component alpha is associated with a H-ras-mediated increase in radioresistance. In fractionated irradiation experiments it was observed that with a dose of 1 Gy/fraction a 1.8 times higher dose for an isoeffect of 10% cell survival (D10) was needed for a subline with one H-ras oncogene, while with fraction doses of 2 or 4 Gy only a 1.2 times higher D10 was found. This indicates a more efficient repair of radiation-induced damage in the transfected subline. Tumors arising in the rat gastrocnemius muscle inoculated with cultured cells were irradiated with different doses of 300-kV X-rays. A single dose of 45 Gy was found to result in a 6% cure rate for the subline containing one H-ras oncogene and a 32% for the parental line. When a priming dose of 45 Gy was followed by fractionated irradiation with 1 Gy/fraction, an extra dose of 51 Gy would be needed to obtain a 75% cure rate for the transfected subline. An extra dose of only 10 Gy would be needed for the parental line. The percentage cure per unit of dose for the parental line irradiated with 1 Gy/fraction was estimated to be 4.3%.Gy-1, whereas for the transfected tumor line it was 1.4%.Gy-1. This means that a 3.0 times higher cumulated absorbed dose would be needed for enhancing the cure rate from 32% to 75% in the subline with H-ras than for the parental line. With 2 Gy/fraction the difference in extra doses required for obtaining isolevels of cure rates was found to be small, a factor of 1.4. The results indicate that in the course of fractionated irradiation with 1 Gy/fraction, in vivo repair is much more efficient in the transfected subline.

The 5T mouse multiple myeloma model: absence of c-myc oncogene rearrangement in early transplant generations.

Consistent chromosomal translocations involving the c-myc cellular oncogene and one of the three immunoglobin loci are typical for human Burkitt's lymphoma, induced mouse plasmacytoma (MPC) and spontaneously arising rat immunocytoma (RIC). Another plasma cell malignancy, multiple myeloma (MM), arising spontaneously in the ageing C57BL/KaLwRij mice, was investigated in order to see whether the MM cells contain c-myc abnormalities of the MPC or RIC type. Rearrangement of the c-myc oncogene was found in the bone marrow cells only in 5T2 MM transplantation line in a mouse of the 24th generation and in none of the seven other MM of the 5T series which were of earlier generations. Since the mouse 5T MM resembles the human MM very closely, including the absence of consistent structural c-myc oncogene abnormalities, it can serve as a useful experimental model for studies on the aetiopathogenesis of this disease.

Flow cytometric detection of ribosomal RNA in suspended cells by fluorescent in situ hybridization.

A method using flow cytometry and fluorescent in situ hybridization (ISH) to detect RNA in cells is described. L1210 murine leukemia cells were fixed with 1% formaldehyde in HEPES buffered Hank's balanced salt solution (HH) followed by 70% ethanol. Endogenous RNAses were blocked by diethylpyrocarbonate treatment. Single-stranded sense and antisense RNA probes, labeled with biotin-11-UTP, were transcribed from a 2.1 kb 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene fragment subcloned into the pGEM2 plasmid. For good results, it was essential that the probes were degraded to 100-150 nucleotides before use. Hybridization was performed at 45 degrees C in 50% formamide, 5 x SSC, 0.5% SDS. Hybrids were detected with streptavidin-FITC by flow cytometry. Antisense rRNA probe signal was 100 times higher than the background. The hybrids were largely resistant to RNAse and melted at high temperature. The sense probe also gave a signal (5 times background), which was not RNAse resistant and was attributed to the presence of internal inverted repeats in the ribosomal RNA. When sufficient background reduction can be achieved, it is expected that as few as ten mRNA molecules per cell can be detected with the fluorescent in situ hybridization method.

Transactivating potential of the 3' open reading frame of murine mammary tumor virus.

The procaryotic chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene controlled by the murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter shows reduced activity in a rat mammary tumor cell line after infection with MMTV but to a considerably lesser extent than the CAT gene controlled by a heterologous promoter, indicating trans-acting regulation of promoter activity by MMTV. Cotransfection of vectors capable of expressing RNA from the 3' open reading frame (orf) of MMTV with the CAT-MMTV construct resulted in enhanced CAT activity, suggesting that orf carries a transactivating potential. Since transactivation was also found with a vector containing only orf and part of the viral env gene, it was concluded that a separate transcriptional unit exists for the orf message.

Presence of fibroblast-transforming genes in normal DNA of several mouse and rat strains.

Cellular DNA of the inbred mouse strains BALB/c, C3Hf, C57BL, CBA, DBAf , GRS and ND2 and the inbred rat strains BN, SD and WAG was shown to oncogenically transform murine fibroblasts of the continuous cell line BALB/3T3. Subcutaneous inoculation of transformed cells into BALB/c mice led to the rapid development of sarcomas. For transformation the DNA had to be fragmented to a size smaller than 23 kilobase pairs (kbp), with a lower limit of 6.5 kbp. No transforming virus could be rescued from the transformed lines by infection with a murine leukemia virus.

Sera from irradiated rats contain antibodies to a ubiquitous tumour-associated antigen.

Female rats of the inbred strains BN/BiRij and WAG/Rij were irradiated with 30 kV X-rays, or 15 MeV or 0.5 MeV fast neutrons. Sera were collected several months after irradiation and found to be negative for antibodies reacting with the murine mammary tumour virus as tested by a solid-phase radioimmunoassay and an immunofluorescence absorption test. We found, however, that in an immunofluorescence assay several sera from irradiated rats reacted with a cytoplasmic antigen in rat mammary, ureter and skin carcinoma cell lines as well as a mouse mammary tumour and a transformed BALB/3T3 mouse fibroblast line. No reaction was found with normal fibroblast cell lines of rat or murine origin. Endpoint titres of the sera on tumour cells ranged from 1:20 to 1:160. Of 48 sera from unirradiated rats 18 also stained tumour cells, but usually at the low dilution of 1:10. Irradiation seems to enhance antibody activity to a ubiquitous tumour-associated antigen.

The concept of gene transfer-misrepair mechanism of radiation carcinogenesis may challenge the linear extrapolation model of risk estimation for low radiation doses.

The recent demonstration that transformation of cultured cells can be induced by exposure to DNA fragments prepared from normal mouse tissues provides experimental support to the gene transfer-misrepair hypothesis of radiation carcinogenesis. Employing various assumptions with regard to the generation of oncogenic DNA fragments and of cells which are susceptible to incorporate these fragments into their genome, it is predicted that the proposed mechanism implies a non-linear extrapolation model for the calculation of cancer risks caused by very low doses of ionizing radiation of low LET. It also follows from this hypothesis that X- and gamma-radiation delivered at an extremely low dose rate will be less carcinogenic than at high dose rate, in particular where low total doses are concerned. Several aspects of the hypothesis can be verified experimentally by the use of in vitro cultured cell systems.