Comparing Lymphocyte Radiosensitivity of Prostate Cancer Patients with Healthy Donors Using Micronuclei and Chemical Premature Chromosome Condensation Tests

Background: Cytogenetic tests are usually used for diagnosing predisposed individuals to cancer by determining their lymphocyte radiosensitivity.

Objective: To determine the potential role of radiosensitivity in predisposition of prostate cancer by comparing lymphocyte radiosensitivity of prostate cancer patients with healthy donors.

Materials and methods: In this experimental study, the blood samples of 10 prostate cancer patients and 10 healthy donors were irradiated to 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 6 Gy ionizing radiation produced by a 6MV Linac. One sample of each group receiving no radiation was regarded as the background. The micronuclei (MN) and chemical premature chromosome condensation (PCC) cytogenetic tests were performed on all samples and the numbers of MN and PCC rings were scored. Dose-response curves were plotted for both healthy and cancerous groups with two tests.

Results: There was a significant difference between the numbers of MN within each group due to different levels of radiation doses. There was also a significant difference between the two groups in all identical doses, with the exception of 6 Gy. The chemical PCC test indicated a significant difference between the scored PCC rings in each group at doses higher than 0.25 Gy. However, no differences were noted between the healthy donors and prostate cancer patients receiving the same level of doses.

Conclusion: MN test can be considered as a reliable indicator of predisposition of prostate cancer. On the other hand, the chemical PCC test could not differentiate between healthy donors and prostate cancer patients at the dose range examined in this study.