Lithium increases proliferation of hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells and rescues irradiation-induced cell cycle arrest in vitro.

Radiotherapy in children causes debilitating cognitive decline, partly linked to impaired neurogenesis. Irradiation targets primarily cancer cells but also endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) leading to cell death or cell cycle arrest. Here we evaluated the effects of lithium on proliferation, cell cycle and DNA damage after irradiation of young NSPCs in vitro.

Alpha particle induced DNA damage and repair in normal cultured thyrocytes of different proliferation status.

Childhood exposure to ionizing radiation increases the risk of developing thyroid cancer later in life and this is suggested to be due to higher proliferation of the young thyroid. The interest of using high-LET alpha particles from Astatine-211 ((211)At), concentrated in the thyroid by the same mechanism as (131)I [1], in cancer treatment has increased during recent years because of its high efficiency in inducing biological damage and beneficial dose distribution when compared to low-LET radiation. Most knowledge of the DNA damage response in thyroid is from studies using low-LET irradiation and much less is known of high-LET irradiation.

Differential gene expression in human fibroblasts after alpha-particle emitter (211)At compared with (60)Co irradiation.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify gene expression profiles distinguishing alpha-particle (211)At and (60)Co irradiation.

Materials And Methods: Gene expression microarray profiling was performed using total RNA from confluent human fibroblasts 5 hours after exposure to (211)At labeled trastuzumab monoclonal antibody (0.25, 0.

Biological consequences of formation and repair of complex DNA damage.

Endogenous processes or genotoxic agents can induce many types of single DNA damage (single-strand breaks, oxidized bases and abasic sites). In addition, ionizing radiation induces complex lesions such as double-strand breaks and clustered damage. To preserve the genomic stability and prevent carcinogenesis, distinct repair pathways have evolved.

RBE of α-particles from (211)At for complex DNA damage and cell survival in relation to cell cycle position.

Purpose: To investigate cell cycle effects and relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of α-particles from the clinically relevant radionuclide Astatine-211 ((211)At), using X-rays as reference radiation. Double-strand breaks (DSB), non-DSB clusters containing oxidised purines and clonogenic survival were investigated.

Materials And Methods: Asynchronous V79-379A fibroblasts or cells synchronised with mimosine in G1, early, mid and late S phase or in mitosis were irradiated with X-rays (100 kV(p)) or (211)At (mean linear energy transfer (LET) 110 keV/μm).

Clustered DNA damage in irradiated human diploid fibroblasts: influence of chromatin organization.

Clustered DNA damages are induced by ionizing radiation and are defined as two or more lesions within one or two helical turns. The aim of this study was to investigate the induction and repair of clustered DNA damage in cells with emphasis on the influence of structural differences in the chromatin organization. Human fibroblasts were irradiated with X rays and induced DSBs and clustered damages were quantified using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis combined with postirradiation incubation with the base excision repair endonuclease Fpg, which recognizes oxidized purines and cleaves the strand at sites inducing strand breaks.

Influence of chromatin structure on induction of double-strand breaks in mammalian cells irradiated with DNA-incorporated 125I.

In this study the induction of double-strand breaks (DSBs) was investigated in Chinese hamster V79-379A cells irradiated with the Auger-electron emitter (125)I incorporated into DNA. The role of chromatin organization was studied by pulse-labeling synchronized cells with (125)IdU before decay accumulation in early or late S phase. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and fragment-size analysis were used to quantify the distribution of DNA fragments in irradiated intact cells and naked DNA as well as in DNA from asynchronously labeled cultures in a different scavenging environment.

Relative biological effectiveness of the alpha-particle emitter (211)At for double-strand break induction in human fibroblasts.

The purpose of this study was to quantify and to determine the distribution of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in human cells irradiated in vitro and to evaluate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of the alpha-particle emitter (211)At for DSB induction. The influence of the irradiation temperature on the induction of DSBs was also investigated. Human fibroblasts were irradiated as intact cells with alpha particles from (211)At, (60)Co gamma rays and X rays.

DNA-incorporated 125I induces more than one double-strand break per decay in mammalian cells.

The Auger-electron emitter 125I releases cascades of 20 electrons per decay that deposit a great amount of local energy, and for DNA-incorporated 125I, approximately one DNA double-strand break (DSB) is produced close to the decay site. To investigate the potential of 125I to induce additional DSBs within adjacent chromatin structures in mammalian cells, we applied DNA fragment-size analysis based on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of hamster V79-379A cells exposed to DNA-incorporated 125IdU. After accumulation of decays at -70 degrees C in the presence of 10% DMSO, there was a non-random distribution of DNA fragments with an excess of fragments <0.

Chromatin organization contributes to non-randomly distributed double-strand breaks after exposure to high-LET radiation.

The influence of higher-order chromatin structure on the non-random distribution of DNA double-strand breaks induced by high-LET radiation was investigated. Five different chromatin structures (intact cells, condensed and decondensed chromatin, nucleoids and naked genomic DNA) from GM5758 cells or K562 cells were irradiated with (137)Cs gamma-ray photons and 125 keV/microm nitrogen ions (16-25 MeV/nucleon). DNA was purified with a modified lysis procedure to avoid release of heat-labile sites, and fragment size distributions and double-strand break yields were analyzed by different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis protocols.

Cleavage of cellular DNA by calicheamicin gamma1.

It is assumed that the efficient antitumor activity of calicheamicin gamma1 is mediated by its ability to introduce DNA double-strand breaks in cellular DNA. To test this assumption we have compared calicheamicin gamma1-mediated cleavage of cellular DNA and purified plasmid DNA. Cleavage of purified plasmid DNA was not inhibited by excess tRNA or protein indicating that calicheamicin gamma1 specifically targets DNA.