Biomarkers for use in monitoring responses of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells to ionizing radiation

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck cancer. The incidence rate is higher in southern China and Southeast Asia in comparison with the Western countries. Radiotherapy is the standard treatment of NPC as the cancer cells are sensitive to ionizing radiation. Radiation treatment has good local control to patients with early NPC. It is essential to monitor the response of the NPC cells to radiation treatment in advance in order to select suitable treatment choice for the patients. This review aims to discuss the potential use of biomarkers in monitoring the responsiveness of NPC cells to radiation treatment.

Keywords: biomarkers; ionizing radiation; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; radiotherapy.

Figure 1.

H2AX phosphorylation in undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell HONE1. (A) a dividing cell with intact nuclei without exposing to ionizing radiation; (B) HONE1 cell after exposing to 8 Gy ionizing radiation. The cells were fixed 24 hours after radiation, blocked and incubated with rabbit polyclonal anti-gamma H2AX (phospho S139) antibody (abcam). FITC Goat Anti-Rabbit IgG Conjugage (Invitrogen) was used to visualize phosphorylated H2AX in green. The nucleus was stained by blue-fluorescent DAPI (Invitrogen); F-actin was labeled in red with Alexa Fluor^® 635 phalloidin (Invitrogen).