Novel realtime cell analysis platform for the dynamic monitoring of ionizing radiation effects on human tumor cell lines and primary fibroblasts

Translational research in radiation oncology is important for the detection of adverse radiation effects, cellular responses, and radiation modifications, and may help to improve the outcome of radiation therapy in patients with cancer. The present study aimed to optimize and validate a realtime labelfree assay for the dynamic monitoring of cellular responses to ionizing radiation. The xCELLigence system is an impedancebased platform that provides continuous information on alterations in cell size, shape, adhesion, proliferation, and survival. In the present study, various malignant human primary fibroblast cells (U251, GBM2, MCF7, A549, HT29) were exposed to 0, 5 and 10 Gy of Cobalt60 radiation. As well as the xCELLigence system, cell survival and proliferation was evaluated using the following conventional endpoint cellbased methods: Clonogenic, MTS, and lactate dehydrogenase assays, and apoptosis was detected by fluorescenceactivated cell sorting. The effects of ionizing radiation were detected for each cell line using impedance monitoring. The realtime data correlated with the colony forming assay results. At low cell densities (1,0002,000 cells/well) the impedancebased method was more accurate at monitoring dosedependent changes in the malignant human primary fibroblast cell lines, as compared with the endpoint assays. The results of the present study demonstrated that the xCELLigence system may be a reliable and rapid diagnostic method for the monitoring of dynamic cell behavior following radiation. In addition, the xCELLigence system may be used to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying the radiation response, as well as the timedependent effects of radiation on cell proliferation and viability