Carbon-Ion Beam Irradiation Kills X-Ray-Resistant p53-Null Cancer Cells by Inducing Mitotic Catastrophe

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To understand the mechanisms involved in the strong killing effect of carbon-ion beam irradiation on cancer cells with TP53 tumor suppressor gene deficiencies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DNA damage responses after carbon-ion beam or X-ray irradiation in isogenic HCT116 colorectal cancer cell lines with and without TP53 (p53(+/+) and p53(-/-), respectively) were analyzed as follows: cell survival by clonogenic assay, cell death modes by morphologic observation of DAPI-stained nuclei, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by immunostaining of phosphorylated H2AX (γH2AX), and cell cycle by flow cytometry and immunostaining of Ser10-phosphorylated histone H3. RESULTS: The p53(-/-) cells were more resistant than the p53(+/+) cells to X-ray irradiation, while the sensitivities of the p53(+/+) and p53(-/-) cells to carbon-ion beam irradiation were comparable. X-ray and carbon-ion beam irradiations predominantly induced apoptosis of the p53(+/+) cells but not the p53(-/-) cells. In the p53(-/-) cells, carbon-ion beam irradiation, but not X-ray irradiation, markedly induced mitotic catastrophe that was associated with premature mitotic entry with harboring long-retained DSBs at 24 h post-irradiation. CONCLUSIONS: Efficient induction of mitotic catastrophe in apoptosis-resistant p53-deficient cells implies a strong cancer cell-killing effect of carbon-ion beam irradiation that is independent of the p53 status, suggesting its biological advantage over X-ray treatment.