Studies of the Susceptibility to Radiation of Prostate Cancer or BPH Patients and Healthy Donors
Authors: Cebulska-Wasilewska Antonina  , Miszczyk Justyna  , Balegenowa Nazym  , Rudek Zofia  , Dobrowolska Barbara  , Krzysiek Mateusz  , Panek Agnieszka  , Lipczy&nacute;ski Wac&lstrok;aw  , Dobrowolski Zygmunt  
Published: February 2025

Genetic constitution, health condition and lifestyle of an individual, e.g. diet and a level of physical activity, can affect his response to various exogenous factors, including accidental exposure to radiation or therapeutic treatment. As a consequence, in a population at emergency, posing a threat to public of any hazardous exposure (physical, biological or chemical), subjects at various stage of disease development may constitute a quite large subgroup, potentially in a higher health risk as more vulnerable to the exposure. The aim of our studies was to compare, on molecular and cellular levels, responses to the challenging dose of X-rays of the peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with prostate cancer (PC) or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) diseases. On the molecular level, the alkaline version of a single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay, also known as a Comet assay, was used to estimate the DNA damage induced by the challenging dose of X-rays and amount of DNA damage that was not repaired during a post-irradiation incubation. Although, on average, the susceptibility to challenging dose of X-rays was slightly lower for a group of PC patients comparing with that of BPH subjects, though, the difference was statistically significant, nevertheless, the average radio-sensitivities found out for both patients groups were significantly higher than that of healthy donor cells. The amount of the DNA damage that was not repaired during subsequent incubation was significantly higher. Consequently, the DNA repair efficiency, evaluated for investigated subgroups, was on average significantly lower in lymphocytes of both PC patients and BPH cases, when it was compared to results from a healthy donor, what is more, PC patients&rsquo; cells repaired the radiation damage significantly less efficiently than BPH subjects. A stronger variation in the capabilities of repairing the X-ray induced DNA damage was also observed among PC patients than that among BPH donors. Results obtained from DNA repair competence assay were compared with classic and molecular cytogenetic studies of the aberrations induced by the same challenging dose. Significantly higher amounts of chromosome aberrations and percent of aberrant cells were detected in irradiated lymphocytes of PC patients than in lymphocytes of BPH subjects. The translocations in chromosome 1 and other types of aberrations detected with FISH technique were also significantly more frequent in group of PC subjects than in BPH. Strong correlations between the DNA repair competence and the results from all types of cytogenetic approaches were observed. Our results clearly suggest a possible value of the DNA repair competence assay in both: pre-clinical studies as a predictor of patient response to radiotherapy, as well as in the emergency situations, as a fast biomarker and indicator of the subgroup of oversensitive or overexposed subjects that are at higher risk from the accidental exposure.