Therapeutic effect of lymphokine-activated killer cells treated with low-dose ionizing radiation on osteosarcoma

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, which received low-dose ionizing radiation, on the treatment of osteosarcoma in rats. The cultured UMR-106 cells were inoculated under the anterior chest skin of 24 rats to establish an osteosarcoma model. In addition, the LAK cells from 24 mice were exposed to doses of 0 (control group), 0.65 or 3.25 mGy X-ray radiation. The tritiated thymidine (³H-TdR) release method and Winn assay were performed to determine the antitumor effects of the LAK cells. The proliferation of the mouse LAK cells treated with 3.25 mGy radiation was significantly higher than that for those treated with 0 or 0.65 mGy radiation, which suggested that low-dose ionizing radiation stimulates the proliferation of LAK cells. The tumor-bearing rats were divided into three groups and injected with LAK cells that had already received 0, 0.65 or 3.25 mGy radiation. The mean survival time of the 3.25-mGy group was longer than that of the 0- and 0.65-mGy groups. After 30 days, tumors with weights of ~6.25 and 2.0 g were identified in the rats of the 0- and 0.65-mGy groups, respectively. However, tumor proliferation was not detectable in the rats of the 3.25-mGy radiation group. Therefore, low-dose ionizing radiation effectively kills osteosarcoma cells in rats by stimulating the proliferation and enhancing the cytotoxicity of LAK cells.