The Fate of a Normal Human Cell Traversed by a Single Charged Particle

The long-term “fate” of normal human cells after single hits of charged particles is one of the oldest unsolved issues in radiation protection and cellular radiobiology. Using a high-precision heavy-ion microbeam we could target normal human fibroblasts with exactly one or five carbon ions and measured the early cytogenetic damage and the late behaviour using single-cell cloning. Around 70% of the first cycle cells presented visible aberrations in mFISH after a single ion traversal, and about 5% of the cells were still able to form colonies. In one third of selected high-proliferative colonies we observed clonal (radiation-induced) aberrations. Terminal differentiation and markers of senescence (PCNA, p16) in the descendants of cells traversed by one carbon ion occurred earlier than in controls, but no evidence of radiation-induced chromosomal instability was found. We conclude that cells surviving single-ion traversal, often carrying clonal chromosome aberrations, undergo accelerated senescence but maintain chromosomal stability.