Technical Report No. 6-90
Radiosensitivity of skin fibroblasts from atomic bomb survivors with and without breast cancer
Ban S, Setlow RB, Bender MA, Ezaki H, Hiraoka T, Yamane M, Nishiki M, Dohi K, Awa AA, Miller RC, Parry DM, Mulvihill JJ, Beebe GWEditor’s note: Publications based on this report were published in Cancer Res 50:4050-5, 1990, and J Radiat Res (Tokyo) 32S:330-8, 1991.
Summary
Fibroblasts were established in vitro from skin biopsies obtained from 55 women and one man with or without breast cancer and with or without exposure to radiation from the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima. The radiosensitivity of these cells was evaluated by clonogenic assays after exposure to X rays or to fission neutrons from a 252Cf source. Data were fitted to a multitarget model, S/S0 = A[1 – (1 – ekD)N], for both X-ray and neutron dose-survival curves. A single-hit model, S/S0 = AekD, fits the neutron dose-survival responses as well. There was no difference in the means or variances of radiosensitivity between exposed and nonexposed groups, or between patients with or without breast cancer. Hence, although the sample is not large, it provides no support for the hypothesis that A-bomb radiation preferentially induces breast cancer in women whose cells in vitro are sensitive to cell killing by radiation.
Fibroblasts were established in vitro from skin biopsies obtained from 55 women and one man with or without breast cancer and with or without exposure to radiation from the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima. The radiosensitivity of these cells was evaluated by clonogenic assays after exposure to X rays or to fission neutrons from a 252Cf source. Data were fitted to a multitarget model, S/S0 = A[1 – (1 – ekD)N], for both X-ray and neutron dose-survival curves. A single-hit model, S/S0 = AekD, fits the neutron dose-survival responses as well. There was no difference in the means or variances of radiosensitivity between exposed and nonexposed groups, or between patients with or without breast cancer. Hence, although the sample is not large, it provides no support for the hypothesis that A-bomb radiation preferentially induces breast cancer in women whose cells in vitro are sensitive to cell killing by radiation.