In vivo versus in vitro individual radiosensitivity analysed in healthy donors and in prostate cancer patients with and without severe side effects after radiotherapy

Background : A high cellular radiosensitivity may be connected with a risk for development of severe side effects after radiotherapy and indicate cancer susceptibility. Hence, a fast and robust in vitro test is desirable to identify radiosensitive individuals. Materials and methods : The study included 25 prostate cancer patients with severe side effects (S) and 25 patients without severe side effects (0) after radiotherapy as well as 23 male healthy age-matched donors. Blood samples were exposed to 0.5 Gy or 1 Gy of gamma-rays. The initial level of double-strand breaks (dsb) and repair kinetics measured by phosphorylation of histone H2A (gamma-H2AX-assay), apoptosis (Annexin V-assay) and the induction of chromatid aberrations after irradiation in the G2-phase of the cell cycle (G2-assay) were analysed. Results : A significant higher chromatid aberration yield was found in lymphocytes from prostate cancer patients when compared to healthy donors. We found no significant differences between patients S and patients 0. Conclusions : There is no obvious correlation between clinical and cellular radiosensitivity in lymphocytes of prostate cancer patients when all chosen in vitro assays are considered. Although 25% of the patients showed both severe side effects and increased radiation-induced chromosomal sensitivity, predictive value of G2-assay is doubtful.