Selective radiosensitization by nitric oxide in tumor cell lines

LUCÍA POLICASTRO; HEBE DURÁN; YANN HENRY; BEATRIZ MOLINARI; VINCENT FAVAUDON

CANCER LETTERS

Año: 2007 vol. 248 p. 123 - 130

0304-3835

The radiosensitizing effect of nitric oxide on mouse and human tumor cells with different degrees of malignancy was evaluated. Cells pre-treated with the NO donor DETA-NO, were irradiated with g rays. Survival curves were obtained by clonogenicity and fitted to the linear quadratic model. Results demonstrated an association between radiosensitization and degree of malignancy. The more malignant the cell line, the higher the degree of radiosensitization by DETA-NO. In conclusion, the differential radiosensitizing effect of DETA-NO shown here is of great interest for the potential use of NO in radiotherapy, due to an enhanced radiation effect on tumor vs normal tissue.