Bi-directional signaling involved in radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) between irradiated carcinoma cells and their surrounding non-irradiated normal cells is relevant to radiation cancer therapy. Using the SPICE-NIRS microbeam, we delivered 500 protons to A549-GFP lung carcinoma cells, stably expressing H2B-GFP, which were co-cultured with normal WI-38 cells. The level of γ-H2AX, a marker for DNA double-strand breaks (DSB), was subsequently measured up to 24-h post-irradiation in both targeted and bystander cells. As a result, inhibition of gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) attenuated DSB repair in targeted A549-GFP cells, and suppressed RIBE in bystander WI-38 cells but not in distant A549-GFP cells. This suggests that GJIC plays a two-way role through propagating DNA damage effect between carcinoma to normal cells and reversing the bystander signaling, also called 'rescue effect' from bystander cells to irradiated cells, to enhance the DSB repair in targeted cells.
Understanding the mechanisms underlying the radiation-induced bystander effect (RIBE) and bi-directional signaling between irradiated carcinoma cells and their surrounding non-irradiated normal cells is relevant to cancer radiotherapy. The present study investigated propagation of RIBE signals between human lung carcinoma A549 cells and normal lung fibroblast WI38 cells in bystander cells, either directly or indirectly contacting irradiated A549 cells. We prepared A549-GFP/WI38 co-cultures and A549-GFP/A549 co-cultures, in which A549-GFP cells stably expressing H2BGFP were co-cultured with either A549 cells or WI38 cells, respectively. Using the SPICE-NIRS microbeam, only the A549-GFP cells were irradiated with 500 protons per cell. The level of γ-H2AX, a marker for DNA double-strand breaks (DSB), was subsequently measured for up to 24h post-irradiation in three categories of cells: (1) "targeted"/irradiated A549-GFP cells; (2) "neighboring"/non-irradiated cells directly contacting the "targeted" cells; and (3) "distant"/non-irradiated cells, which were not in direct contact with the "targeted" cells. We found that DSB repair in targeted A549-GFP cells was enhanced by co-cultured WI38 cells. The bystander response in A549-GFP/A549 cell co-cultures, as marked by γ-H2AX levels at 8h post-irradiation, showed a decrease to non-irradiated control level when approaching 24h, while the neighboring/distant bystander WI38 cells in A549-GFP/WI38 co-cultures was maintained at a similar level until 24h post-irradiation. Surprisingly, distant A549-GFP cells in A549-GFP/WI38 co-cultures showed time dependency similar to bystander WI38 cells, but not to distant cells in A549-GFP/A549 co-cultures. These observations indicate that γ-H2AX was induced in WI38 cells as a result of RIBE. WI38 cells were not only involved in rescue of targeted A549, but also in the modification of RIBE against distant A549-GFP cells. The present results demonstrate that radiation-induced bi-directional signaling had extended a profound influence on cellular sensitivity to radiation as well as the sensitivity to RIBE.
The geometric locations of ion traversals in mammalian cells constitute important information in the study of heavy ion-induced biological effect. Single ion traversal through a cellular nucleus produces complex and massive DNA damage at a nanometer level, leading to cell inactivation, mutations and transformation. We present a novel approach that uses a fluorescent nuclear track detector (FNTD) for the simultaneous detection of the geometrical images of ion traversals and DNA damage in single cells using confocal microscopy. HT1080 or HT1080-53BP1-GFP cells were cultured on the surface of a FNTD and exposed to 5.1-MeV/n neon ions. The positions of the ion traversals were obtained as fluorescent images of a FNTD. Localized DNA damage in cells was identified as fluorescent spots of γ-H2AX or 53BP1-GFP. These track images and images of damaged DNA were obtained in a short time using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The geometrical distribution of DNA damage indicated by fluorescent γ-H2AX spots in fixed cells or fluorescent 53BP1-GFP spots in living cells was found to correlate well with the distribution of the ion traversals. This method will be useful for evaluating the number of ion hits on individual cells, not only for micro-beam but also for random-beam experiments.