Bystander responses in low dose irradiated cells treated with plasma from gamma irradiated blood

There are two specific low-dose radiation-induced responses that have been the focus of radiobiologists' interest in recent years. These are the bystander effect in non-irradiated cells and the adaptive response to a challenge dose after prior low dose irradiation. In the present study we have investigated if plasma from irradiated blood can act as a challenge dose on low dose irradiated reporter epithelial cells (HaCaT cell line). The main aim was to evaluate the overall effect of low dose irradiation (0.05 Gy) of reporter cells and the influence of bystander factors in plasma from 0.5 Gy gamma irradiated blood on these cells. The effects were estimated by clonogenic survival of the reporter cells. We also investigated the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as potential factors involved in the bystander signaling. Calcium fluxes and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) depolarization were also examined as a marker for initiation of apoptosis in the reporter cells. The results show that there are large individual differences in the production of bystander effects and adaptive responses between different donors. These may be due to the specific composition of the donor plasma. The observed effects generally could be divided into two groups: adaptive responses and additive effects. ROS appeared to be involved in the responses of the low dose pretreated reporter cells. In all cases there was a significant decrease in MMP which may be an early event in the apoptotic process. Calcium signaling also appeared to be involved in triggering apoptosis in the low dose pretreated reporter cells. The heterogeneity of the bystander responses makes them difficult to be modulated for medical uses. Specific plasma characteristics that cause these large differences in the responses would need to be identified to make them useful for radiotherapy.