Measurements using the alkaline comet assay predict bladder cancer cell radiosensitivity

In the UK, the two main treatments of invasive bladder cancer are radiotherapy or cystectomy. However, ∼50% of patients undergoing radiotherapy fail to respond. If tumour radiosensitivity could be predicted in advance, it may be possible to improve control rates significantly by selecting for radiotherapy those patients whose tumours are radiosensitive. Additionally, patients who would benefit from surgery would be identified earlier. The alkaline comet assay (ACA) is a sensitive method for the detection of DNA strand break damage in cells. In the present study, using six bladder cancer cell lines of differing radiosensitivities, cell survival was compared to the manifestation of radiogenic DNA damage as assessed by ACA. For all the cell lines, the extent of comet formation strongly correlates with cell killing (R(2)>0.96), with a greater response being noted in radiosensitive cells. In repair studies, measures of residual damage correlate with survival fraction at 2 Gy (R(2)>0.96), but for only five of the cell lines. Finally, cells from human bladder tumour biopsies reveal a wide range of predicted radiosensitivies as determined by ACA. Overall, these studies demonstrate ACA to be a good predictive measure of bladder cancer cell radiosensitivity at low dose, with potential clinical application.