Radiosensitivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from patients with cancers of the breast, head and neck or cervix as determined with a micronucleus assay

J Radiat Res. 2004 Dec;45(4):535-41. doi: 10.1269/jrr.45.535.

Abstract

The in vitro radiation sensitivities of peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from 48 normal females and 168 female cancer patients were measured with the cytokinesis-blocking micronucleus assay. Cancer patients group had significantly higher mean baseline micronucleus frequency than normal healthy controls. Breast cancer patients were more radiosensitive than normal individuals. Cervical cancer cases were less radiation sensitive than normal subjects. The relative lack of radiation sensitivity in cervical-cancer cases could be due to modification of the radiosensitivity of patients' immune-responsible cells by human papillomaviruses infection. Normal individuals and cancer patients were classified according to their radiation sensitivity which was evaluated with the radiation-induced micronucleus frequencies. Such a classification will be an important initial step to characterize the radiosensitive, radioresistant, or cancer-prone individuals using specific SNP typing.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Breast Neoplasms / blood
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
  • Female
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms / blood
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Humans
  • Lymphocytes / radiation effects*
  • Micronucleus Tests / methods*
  • Middle Aged
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Radiation Tolerance
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / blood
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / drug therapy*