Relative biological effectiveness in canine osteosarcoma cells irradiated with accelerated charged particles

Assessing the biological effects of boron neutron capture therapy through cellular DNA damage repair model

BACKGROUND

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a targeted radiotherapy that relies on the 10B (n, α) 7Li reaction, which produces secondary particles with high linear energy transfer (LET), leading to a high relative biological effectiveness (RBE) in tumors. The biological effectiveness of BNCT is influenced by factors such as boron distribution and concentration, necessitating improved methods for assessing its radiobiological effects and clarifying the sensitivity of the differences in different factors to the biological effects.

PURPOSE

This paper introduces a method to evaluate the biological effects of BNCT using the cellular repair model. This method aims to overcome some of the limitations of current evaluation approaches. The primary goal is to provide guidance for clinical treatments and the development of boron drugs, as well as to investigate the impact of the synergistic effects of mixed radiation fields in BNCT on treatment outcomes.

METHODS

The approach involves three key steps: first, extending the radial energy deposition distribution of BNCT secondary particles using Geant4-DNA. This allows for the calculation of initial DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) distributions for a given absorbed dose. Next, the obtained initial DSB distributions are used for DNA damage repair simulations to generate cell survival curves, then thereby quantifying RBE and compound biological effectiveness (CBE). The study also explores the synergistic effects of the mixed radiation fields in BNCT on assessing biological effects were also explored in depth.

RESULTS

The results showed that the RBE of boronophenylalanine (BPA) and sodium borocaptate (BSH) drugs at cell survival fraction 0.01 was 2.50 and 2.15, respectively. The CBE of the boron dose component was 3.60 and 0.73, respectively, and the RBE of the proton component was 3.21, demonstrating that BPA has a significantly higher biological impact than BSH due to superior cellular permeability. The proton dose significance in BNCT treatment is also underscored, necessitating consideration in both experimental and clinical contexts. The study demonstrates that synergistic effects between disparate radiation fields lead to increased misrepairs and enhanced biological impact. Additionally, the biological effect diminishes with rising boron concentration, emphasizing the need to account for intercellular DNA damage heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS

This methodology offers valuable insights for the development of new boron compounds and precise assessment of bio-weighted doses in clinical settings and can be adapted to other therapeutic modalities.

The impact of DNA double-strand break repair pathways throughout the carbon ion spread-out Bragg peak beam

Following carbon ion beam irradiation in mammalian cells, such as used in carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT), it has been suggested that the balance between whether nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR) is utilized depends on the DNA double-strand break (DSB) complexity. Here, we quantified DSB distribution and identified the importance of each DSB repair pathway at increasing depths within the carbon ion spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) beam range. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines were irradiated in a single biological system capable of incorporating the full carbon ion SOBP beam range. Cytotoxicity and DSB distribution/repair kinetics were examined at increasing beam depths using cell survival as an endpoint and γ-H2AX as a surrogate marker for DSBs. We observed that proximal SOBP had the highest number of total foci/cell and lowest survival, while distal SOBP had the most dense tracks. Both NHEJ- and HR-deficient CHO cells portrayed an increase in radiosensitivity throughout the full carbon beam range, although NHEJ-deficient cells were the most radiosensitive cell line from beam entrance up to proximal SOBP and demonstrated a dose-dependent decrease in ability to repair DSBs. In contrast, HR-deficient cells had the greatest ratio of survival fraction at entrance depth to the lowest survival fraction within the SOBP and demonstrated a linear energy transfer (LET)-dependent decrease in ability to repair DSBs. Collectively, our results provide insight into treatment planning and potential targets to inhibit, as HR was a more beneficial pathway to inhibit than NHEJ to enhance the cell killing effect of CIRT in targeted tumor cells within the SOBP while maintaining limited unwanted damage to surrounding healthy cells.

High LET Radiation Overcomes In Vitro Resistance to X-Rays of Chondrosarcoma Cell Lines

Chondrosarcomas are malignant tumors of the cartilage that are chemoresistant and radioresistant to X-rays. This restricts the treatment options essential to surgery. In this study, we investigated the sensitivity of chondrosarcoma to X-rays and C-ions in vitro. The sensitivity of 4 chondrosarcoma cell lines (SW1353, CH2879, OUMS27, and L835) was determined by clonogenic survival assays and cell cycle progression. In addition, biomarkers of DNA damage responses were analyzed in the SW1353 cell line. Chondrosarcoma cells showed a heterogeneous sensitivity toward irradiation. Chondrosarcoma cell lines were more sensitive to C-ions exposure compared to X-rays. Using D10 values, the relative biological effectiveness of C-ions was higher (relative biological effectiveness = 5.5) with cells resistant to X-rays (CH2879) and lower (relative biological effectiveness = 3.7) with sensitive cells (L835). C-ions induced more G2 phase blockage and micronuclei in SW1353 cells as compared to X-rays with the same doses. Persistent unrepaired DNA damage was also higher following C-ions irradiation. These results indicate that chondrosarcoma cell lines displayed a heterogeneous response to conventional radiation treatment; however, treatment with C-ions irradiation was more efficient in killing chondrosarcoma cells, compared to X-rays.

Palmitoyl ascorbic acid 2-glucoside has the potential to protect mammalian cells from high-LET carbon-ion radiation

DMSO, glycerol, and ascorbic acid (AA) are used in pharmaceuticals and known to display radioprotective effects. The present study investigates radioprotective properties of novel glyceryl glucoside, ascorbic acid 2-glucoside, glyceryl ascorbate, and palmitoyl ascorbic acid 2-glucoside (PA). Gamma-rays or high-LET carbon-ions were irradiated in the presence of tested chemicals. Lambda DNA damage, cell survival, and micronuclei formation of CHO cells were analyzed to evaluate radioprotective properties. Radiation-induced Lambda DNA damage was reduced with chemical pre-treatment in a concentration-dependent manner. This confirmed tested chemicals were radical scavengers. For gamma-irradiation, enhanced cell survival and reduction of micronuclei formation were observed for all chemicals. For carbon-ion irradiation, DMSO, glycerol, and PA displayed radioprotection for cell survival. Based on cell survival curves, protection levels by PA were confirmed and comparable between gamma-rays and high-LET carbon-ions. Micronuclei formation was only decreased with AA and a high concentration of glycerol treatment, and not decreased with PA treatment. This suggests that mechanisms of protection against high-LET carbon-ions by PA can differ from normal radical scavenging effects that protect DNA from damage.

DNA Repair Deficient Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells Exhibiting Differential Sensitivity to Charged Particle Radiation under Aerobic and Hypoxic Conditions

It has been well established that hypoxia significantly increases both cellular and tumor resistance to ionizing radiation. Hypoxia associated radiation resistance has been known for some time but there has been limited success in sensitizing cells to radiation under hypoxic conditions. These studies show that, when irradiated with low linear energy transfer (LET) gamma-rays, poly (ADP-ribose), polymerase (PARP), Fanconi Anemia (FANC), and mutant Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells respond similarly to the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and the homologous recombination (HR) repair mutant CHO cells. Comparable results were observed in cells exposed to 13 keV/μm carbon ions. However, when irradiated with higher LET spread out Bragg peak (SOBP) carbon ions, we observed a decrease in the oxygen enhancement ratio (OER) in all the DNA of repair mutant cell lines. Interestingly, PARP mutant cells were observed as having the largest decrease in OER. Finally, these studies show a significant increase in the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of high LET SOBP carbon and iron ions in HR and PARP mutants. There was also an increase in the RBE of NHEJ mutants when irradiated to SOBP carbon and iron ions. However, this increase was lower than in other mutant cell lines. These findings indicate that high LET radiation produces unique types of DNA damage under hypoxic conditions and PARP and HR repair pathways play a role in repairing this damage.

Comparative oncology approach to drug repurposing in osteosarcoma

BACKGROUND

Osteosarcoma is an orphan disease for which little improvement in survival has been made since the late 1980s. New drug discovery for orphan diseases is limited by the cost and time it takes to develop new drugs. Repurposing already approved FDA-drugs can help overcome this limitation. Another limitation of cancer drug discovery is the lack of preclinical models that accurately recapitulate what occurs in humans. For OS using dogs as a model can minimize this limitation as OS in canines develops spontaneously, is locally invasive and metastasizes to the lungs as it does in humans.

METHODS

In our present work we used high-throughput screens to identify drugs from a library of 2,286 FDA-approved drugs that demonstrated selective growth inhibition against both human and canine OS cell lines. The identified lead compound was then tested for synergy with 7 other drugs that have demonstrated activity against OS. These results were confirmed with in vitro assays and an in vivo murine model of OS.

RESULTS

We identified 13 drugs that demonstrated selective growth inhibition against both human and canine OS cell lines. Auranofin was selected for further in vitro combination drug screens. Auranofin showed synergistic effects with vorinostat and rapamycin on OS viability and apoptosis induction. Auranofin demonstrated single-agent growth inhibition in both human and canine OS xenografts, and cooperative growth inhibition was observed in combination with rapamycin or vorinostat. There was a significant decrease in Ki67-positive cells and an increase in cleaved caspase-3 levels in tumor tissues treated with a combination of auranofin and vorinostat or rapamycin.

CONCLUSIONS

Auranofin, alone or in combination with rapamycin or vorinostat, may be useful new treatment strategies for OS. Future studies may evaluate the efficacy of auranofin in dogs with OS as a prelude to human clinical evaluation.

Investigation of the relative biological effectiveness and uniform isobiological killing effects of irradiation with a clinical carbon SOBP beam on DNA repair deficient CHO cells

Spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) C ions have been used clinically in charged particle radiation therapy for years. An SOBP beam consists of various monoenergetic Bragg peaks; however, the biological effect of irradiation with an SOBP beam track has not been well-studied. In order to determine the clinically prospective molecular targets, radiosensitivity to the beam track in DNA repair deficient cell lines was investigated. A total of four distinct Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines, including CHO10B2 (wild-type), V3 (protein kinase DNA-activated catalytic polypeptide deficient), 51D1 (RAD51 paralog D deficient) and PADR9 [poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) deficient], were irradiated with gamma-rays, C ions (290 MeV/n) and Fe ions (500 MeV/n), in order to compare cellular lethality. An OptiCell™ culture system was used to evaluate the lethality at distinct depths of SOBP C ions. Relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values of C ions (linear energy transfer (LET), 13 and 70 keV/µm) and Fe ions (LET, 200 keV/µm) were calculated from cell survival using colony formation assay with standard cell dishes. All cell lines exhibited similar sensitivity to 70 keV/µm C ions and 200 keV/µm Fe ions. Furthermore, V3 cells did not exhibit increased sensitivity to high LET C ions and Fe ions, compared with low LET gamma-rays and C ions, and 51D1 cells irradiated with 13 keV/µm C ions exhibited relatively high RBE values among the tested cell lines. Conversely, PADR9 cells exhibited low RBE values for 13 keV/µm C ions and high RBE values for 70 keV/µm C ions. Obtained using the OptiCell system, the survival fractions in the SOBP region were uniform for wild-type and PADR9 cells. Conversely, V3 and 51D1 cells exhibited decreased cell death in the distal region of the SOBP. These results indicated that PARP is a more effective target for clinical beam therapy, compared with the non-homologous end joining repair and homologous recombination repair pathways. PARP deficiency may be an optimal target for C ion therapy and the results of the present study may contribute to the development of a more effective heavy ion radiation therapy.