Specific molecular and cellular events induced by irradiated X-ray photoactivatable drugs raise the problem of co-toxicities: particular consequences for anti-cancer synchrotron therapy.

Synchrotrons are capable of producing intense low-energy X-rays that enable the photoactivation of high-Z elements. Photoactivation therapy (PAT) consists of loading tumors with photoactivatable drugs and thereafter irradiating them at an energy, generally close to the K-edge of the element, that enhances the photoelectric effect. To date, three major photoactivatable elements are used in PAT: platinum (cisplatin and carboplatin), iodine (iodinated contrast agents and iododeoxyuridine) and gadolinium (motexafin gadolinium).

Short-term effects of synchrotron irradiation on vasculature and tissue in healthy mouse brain.

The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of a tomographic synchrotron irradiation on healthy mouse brain. The cerebral cortexes of healthy nude mice were irradiated with a monochromatic synchrotron beam of 79 keV at a dose of 15 Gy in accordance with a protocol of photoactivation of cisplatin previously tested in our laboratory. Forty-eight hours, one week and one month after irradiation, the blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability was measured in the irradiated area with intravital multiphoton microscopy using fluorescent dyes with molecular weights of 4 and 70 kDa.

Normoxic polyacrylamide gel doped with iodine: response versus X-ray energy.

The basis of Synchrotron Stereotactic Radio-Therapy (SSRT) is the incorporation of high atomic number atoms (iodine, for example) into the tumour mass followed by an irradiation with a monochromatic, low energy, X-ray beam from a synchrotron source. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether polymer gel dosimetry could be used to measure the enhancement of absorbed energy induced by the iodine in the media. We have used a standard nPAG formulation, loaded with NaI and the irradiations were performed either with monochromatic X-rays at the ESRF medical beamline or with a conventional 6 MV X-ray beam from a linear accelerator at the Grenoble University Hospital.

Cadmium inhibits non-homologous end-joining and over-activates the MRE11-dependent repair pathway.

Although cadmium still represents a public health problem and despite the fact that it has been classified as an IARC Group-I carcinogen, the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the toxicity and the carcinogenicity of cadmium compounds are poorly known. Since unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are considered to be key-lesions in cell lethality, and because misrepaired DSBs are a source of genomic instability leading to cancer proneness, the activity of the major DSB-repair pathways, i.e.

DNA double-strand break repair defects in syndromes associated with acute radiation response: at least two different assays to predict intrinsic radiosensitivity?

Purpose: Human diseases associated with acute radiation responses are rare genetic disorders with common clinical and biological features including radiosensitivity, genomic instability, chromosomal aberrations, and frequently immunodeficiency. To determine what molecular assays are predictive of cellular radiosensitivity whatever the genes mutations, the existence of a quantitative correlation between cellular radiosensitivity and unrepaired DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) repair defects was examined in a collection of 40 human fibroblasts representing 8 different syndromes.

Materials And Methods: A number of techniques such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, plasmid assay and immunofluorescence with antibodies against MRE11, MDC1, 53BP1 and phosphorylated forms of H2AX, DNA-PK were applied systematically.

Induction and repair rate of DNA damage: a unified model for describing effects of external and internal irradiation and contamination with heavy metals.

DNA is a key-target for genotoxic stress. Hence, the knowledge of induction and repair rate of DNA damage are crucial to describe and predict the impact of stress situations. Unfortunately, DNA damage induction and repair rates are generally assessed separately whereas they act either concomitantly or transiently in living organisms.

Lead contamination results in late and slowly repairable DNA double-strand breaks and impacts upon the ATM-dependent signaling pathways.

Despite a considerable amount of data, evaluation of the potential genotoxicity and cancer proneness of lead compounds remains unclear, probably due to the plethora of experimental procedures, biological endpoints and cellular models used. In parallel, the understanding in DNA damage formation, repair and signaling has considerably progressed all along these last years, notably for DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Here, were examined DNA damage formation and repair in human cells exposed to lead nitrate (Pb(NO(3))(2)) and their consequences upon the ATM-dependent stress signaling, cell cycle progression and cell death.

Consequences of the bleed-through phenomenon in immunofluorescence of proteins forming radiation-induced nuclear foci.

Purpose: By allowing the visualization of the proteins inside cells, the immunofluorescence technique has revolutionized our view of events that follow radiation response. Particularly, the formation of nuclear foci, their kinetic of appearance and disappearance, and the association-dissociation of protein partners are useful endpoints to better understand the effects of ionizing radiation. Recently, the technique based on the phosphorylation of the histone 2A family, member X (H2AX) has generated a plethora of reports concerning the interaction between the major proteins involved in DNA repair and stress signaling pathways.

Molecular and cellular response of the most extensively used rodent glioma models to radiation and/or cisplatin.

Purpose Anti-glioma strategies are generally based on trials involving rodent models whose choice remains based on proliferative capacity and availability. Recently, our group obtained the most protracted survival of rats bearing F98 gliomas by combining synchrotron X-rays and intracerebral cisplatin injection (Biston et al., Cancer Res, 64:2317-2323, 2004).