Radiosensitivity and Cell Age in the Mitotic Cycle
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Introduction • Mammalian cells propagate by mitosis • The cell cycle in all dividing mammalian Radiosensitivity and Cell Age in cells is divided into four phases: – M phase can be identified through the light the Mitotic Cycle microscope – After the cells pass through M, there is a period of apparent inactivity, termed G1 (the first "gap" in activity in the cell cycle) Chapter 4 – Next, the cells actively synthesize DNA during the S phase, identified through labeling – Between the S phase and the onset of the next Eric J. Hall., Amato Giaccia, mitosis, there is another gap in activity, G2 • The time between successive divisions Radiobiology for the Radiologist defines the cell cycle time TC Cell labeling techniques Cell labeling techniques • Cell visualization during the S phase is based on feeding the cells with radioactive labels or fluorescent dyes, which are incorporated into duplicating chromosomes • The medium is flushed after a short time period • Cells are fixed and stained for ease of viewing after varying time interval • Tritiated thymidine (3HTdR) incorporated into chromosomes emits b- particles forming a latent image on a layer of photo-emulsion coated over the • Labeled cells are counted sample (takes ~3-4 weeks) • Labeling with dyes (e.g., BrdU) is more convinient; use fluorochrome-tagged antibody to BrdU, observable under a fluorescence microscope Cell labeling techniques Cell labeling techniques • BrdU labeling movie: • To ensure free access of the antibody to its http://academics.wellesley.edu/Biology/Concepts/Html/brdu.html antigen, the cells must be fixed and permeabilized • Antibodies are extremely sensitive to location of a • Sample preparation entails fixing the target cells cellular component or a specific molecule (a tissue to the substrate (microscope slide) antigen) • Perfect fixation immobilizes the antigens, while – Target can be inside or on the surface of a cell retaining authentic cellular and subcellular – Antibody is tagged with a fluorescing dye molecule architecture and permitting access of antibodies to all cells and subcellular compartments 1 Cell labeling techniques Flow cytometry • Only a small portion • A biophysical technique that allows counting and of cells in a sample sorting cells in a sample based on their size, uptakes the label structure, and functionality • The technique is very – Functionality is determined through labeling with antigen- labor-intensive, specific fluorescent dyes relying on the manual cell counting • Can discriminate cells at speeds up to 70,000 • New automated cells/second (compare to 200 cells/min manually) approaches • Flow cytometry tutorials: significantly speed up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQXPJ7eeesQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84838260&feature=player_embedded&v=sfWWxFBltpQ&x-yt-ts=1422327029 characterization The cell cycle times Cyclins and protein kinases • Based on the number of counted labeled • Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases were discovered by mitosis and varying the time between Hartwell, Hunt, and Nurse, who thus won the 2001 Nobel labeling and counting, can characterize Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of the temporal transitions within a cycle key regulators of the cell cycle" • The difference among mammalian cell • Cyclins are a group of regulatory proteins that control the cycle times, varying from ~10 to 100 progression of cells through the cell cycle by activating hours among different cells in different cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) enzymes circumstances, is the result of a dramatic • Protein kinases are enzymes that modify the function of variation in the length of the G1 period other proteins by attaching phosphate groups (PO4-) to them (phosphorylate proteins) • The remaining components of the cell – They are key controllers of most biochemical pathways and cycle vary comparatively little important in health and disease Origin of HeLa cells: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gF8bCE4wqA Progression through the cell cycle Synchronizing cells within cycle • Each cyclin protein is • Survival curves are collected with the assumption synthesized at a discrete that the population of irradiated cells is phase of the cycle: cyclin D and E in G , cyclin A in S asynchronous: cells distributed throughout all 1 phases of the cycle and G2, and cyclin B in G2 and M. Transitions in the • Study of the variation of radiosensitivity with the cycle occur only if a given kinase activates the proteins position or age of the cell in the cell cycle was made block required for progression possible only by the development of techniques to • Tumor suppressor genes produce synchronously dividing cell cultures: (p53, Rb) can block cell populations of cells in which all of the cells occupy division if DNA is damaged the same phase of the cell cycle at a given time Current concept of the cell cycle and its regulation by protein kinases, activated by cyclins 2 Effect of x-rays on synchronously Synchronizing cells within cycle dividing cell cultures • Two principal techniques of cell synchronization: • The proportion of cells – Mitotic harvest: physical separation of cells preparing for that survive the dose in- mitosis (works only on monolayer cell cultures) creases rapidly with time – Use of a drug, eliminating all cells in S phase, and as the cells move into S imposing a block on cells at the end of G1 (works for cell phase and tissue samples) • When the cells move out of S into G1 phase and subsequently to a second mitosis, the proportion of surviving cells decreases again Effect of x-rays on synchronously Variation of radiosensitivity dividing cell cultures with cell age in the mitotic cycle • Cells are the most sensitive in • Cells are most sensitive at or close to mitosis Calculated for M and G2: survival curves are M phase under steep and have no shoulder • Resistance is usually greatest in the latter part of S phase. The hypoxia • Cells in the latter part of S increased resistance is thought to be caused by homologous phase (LS) exhibit a survival recombination repair between sister chromatids that is curve that is less steep, but more likely to occur after the DNA has replicated has a very broad shoulder • If G1 phase has an appreciable length, a resistant period is • The range of sensitivity evident early in G1, followed by a sensitive period toward the between the most sensitive end of G1 cells (mitotic) and the most resistant cells (late S) is of the • G2 phase is almost as sensitive as M phase same order of magnitude as • Exceptions to these generalizations have been noted for some Cell survival curves for Chinese hamster cells at various stages of the cell cycle the oxygen effect cell lines Molecular checkpoint genes Molecular checkpoint genes • Mammalian cells exposed to radiation tend to • Mutant cells that lose this G2 checkpoint gene function experience a block in the G2 phase move directly into mitosis • In several strains of yeast, mutants have been with damaged chromosomes isolated that are more sensitive than the wild type – They are at a higher risk of dying - hence their greater to both ionizing radiation and UV light by a factor sensitivity to radiation and other between 10 and 100 DNA-damaging agents • The mutant gene has been cloned and sequenced – Cells that survive mitosis are likely to give rise to errors in and found to be a “G2 molecular checkpoint gene" chromosome segregation - hence more prone to carcinogenesis 3 The age-response function for a Effect of oxygen tissue in vivo • Effect of oxygen on cell survival curves is • The pattern of response in characterized by oxygen enhancement ratio this organized normal tissue, with a sensitive period D ( hypoxic ) OER % S between G1 and S and D ( aerated ) % S maximum radioresistance • The OER was measured at 2.3 to 2.4 for G2 phase late in S, is very similar to cells, compared with 2.8 to 2.9 for S phase, with G1 that characteristic of many cell lines cultured in vitro phase cells showing an intermediate value (label uptake) • This small variation of oxygenation through the • High LET radiation cycle is of little clinical significance in radiation decreases the variation of The survival of jejunal crypt cells exposed to g- radiosensitivity through the therapy rays or neutrons as they pass through the cell cycle after synchronization with hydroxyurea cell cycle Mechanisms for the age- The implications of the age- response function response function in radiotherapy • The patterns of radiosensitivity and radio- • Since general population of cells in tissues is resistance correlate with the mechanism of asynchronous, cells in more sensitive phases of the repair of DNA DSBs: cycle are preferentially killed – Radiosensitivity correlates with nonhomologous end joining, which dominates early in the cell cycle and is • Variations in sensitivity through the cell cycle error prone may be important in radiation therapy because – Radioresistance correlates with homologous they lead to "sensitization resulting from recombinational repair, which occurs after replication reassortment" in a fractionated regimen (in S phase) and is more faithful • Not fully understood • Reassortment is one of the “4 R’s of radiobiology” Introduction • Radiation damage to mammalian cells can Fractionated Radiation and the operationally be divided into three categories: – (1) lethal damage, which is irreversible and irreparable Dose-Rate Effect and, by definition, leads irrevocably to cell death – (2) potentially lethal damage (PLD), the component of Chapter 5 radiation damage