Effects of ionizing radiation on the viability and proliferative behavior of the human glioblastoma T98G cell line

OBJECTIVE: Radiotherapy is the traditional therapy for glioma patients. Glioma has poor response to ionizing radiation (IR). Studying radiation-induced cell death can help in understanding the cellular mechanisms underlying its radioresistance. T98G cell line was irradiated with Co(60) source by 2 or 10 Gy. MTT assay was used to calculate the surviving fraction. Cell viability, cell cycle distribution and apoptosis assays were conducted by flow cytometry for irradiated and control cells for the 10 Gy dose. RESULTS: The SF2 value for irradiated cells was 0.8. Cell viability was decreased from 93.29 to 73.61%, while, the Sub G0/G1 phase fraction was significantly increased at 10 Gy after 48 h. On the other hand, there was an increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells which reached 40.16% after 72 h at the same dose, while, it did not exceeds 2% for non-irradiated cells. Our results showed that, the T98G cells is radioresistant to IR up to 10 Gy. Effects of irradiation on the viability of T98G cells were relatively mild, since entering apoptosis was delayed for about 3 days after irradiation.