Survival of tumor cells after proton irradiation with ultra-high dose rates.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Laser acceleration of protons and heavy ions may in the future be used in radiation therapy. Laser-driven particle beams are pulsed and ultra high dose rates of >10⁹ Gy s⁻¹ may be achieved. Here we compare the radiobiological effects of pulsed and continuous proton beams.

Methods

The ion microbeam SNAKE at the Munich tandem accelerator was used to directly compare a pulsed and a continuous 20 MeV proton beam, which delivered a dose of 3 Gy to a HeLa cell monolayer within < 1 ns or 100 ms, respectively. Investigated endpoints were G2 phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and colony formation.

Results

At 10 h after pulsed irradiation, the fraction of G2 cells was significantly lower than after irradiation with the continuous beam, while all other endpoints incl

SUBMITTER: Auer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3215966 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature