Investigation of the bystander effect in CHO-K1 cells

AimInvestigation of the bystander effect in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO-K1) co-cultured with cells irradiated in the dose range of 0.1–4 Gy of high LET 12C ions and X-rays.BackgroundThe radiobiological effects of charged heavy particles on a cellular or molecular level are of fundamental importance in the field of biomedical applications, especially in hadron therapy and space radiation biology.Materials and methodsA heavy ion 12C beam from the Heavy Ion Laboratory of the University of Warsaw (HIL) was used to irradiate CHO-K1 cells. Cells were seeded in Petri dishes specially designed for irradiation purposes. Immediately after irradiation, cells were transferred into transwell culture insert dishes to enable co-culture of irradiated and non-irradiated cells. Cells from the membrane and well shared the medium but could not touch each other. To study bystander effects, a clonogenic survival assay was performed.ResultsThe survival fraction of cells co-cultured with cells irradiated with 12C ions and X-rays was not reduced.ConclusionsThe bystander effect was not observed in these studies.