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Effects of radiotherapy and short-term starvation combination on metastatic and non-tumor cell lines
Sara Pignatta1, Michela Cortesi1, Chiara Arienti1
1Biosciences Laboratory, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST), IRCCS, Meldola, Italy.
Background:
Since its discovery in the late 19th century, radiotherapy has been one of the most important medical treatments in oncology. Recently, fasting or short-term starvation (STS) in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy has been studied to determine its potential for enhancing the therapeutic index and for preventing side- effects, but no data are available in the radiotherapy setting. We thus decided to investigate the effects in vitro of STS in combination with radiotherapy in metastatic cancer cells and non-cancer cells.
Methods:
Cells were incubated in short-term starvation medium (STS medium, 0·5 g/L glucose + 1% FBS) or in control medium (CM medium, 1 g/L glucose + 10 % FBS) for 24 h and then treated with single high-dose radiation. A plexiglass custom-built phantom was used to irradiate cells. DNA damage was evaluated using alkaline comet assay and theCometAnalyser software. The cell surviving fraction was assessed by clonogenic assay.
Finding:
STS followed by single high-dose radiation significantly increased DNA damage in metastatic cancer cell lines but not in normal cells. Furthermore, STS reduced the surviving fraction of irradiated tumor cells, indicating a good radio-sensitizing effect on metastatic cell lines. This effect was not observed in non-tumor cells.
Interpretation:
Our results suggest that STS may alter cellular processes, enhancing the efficacy of radiotherapy in metastatic cancer cellsin vitro. Interestingly, STS has radioprotective effect on the survival of healthy cells.
