Individual Radiosensitivity in Lung Cancer Patients Assessed by G0 and Three Color Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization

Background: It is known that radiosensitivity is very individual. This can influence the tumor response and side effects in normal tissue after radiotherapy of cancer. Therefore we analyzed the sensitivity of a lung cancer cohort to see if they display a similar radiosensitivity distribution if compared to a healthy individuals and a rectal cancer patients cohort. Methods: Blood samples of 282 individuals were irradiated ex vivo and chromosomes # 1, 2 and 4 were stained by the 3-color fluorescence in situ hybridization. Additionally we analyzed data from 400 partly previous published individuals. Chromosomal aberrations were counted and expressed via breaks per metaphase (B/M). The background chromosomal aberrations were subtracted to obtain solely the radiation induced aberrations. Results: The lung cancer cohort has significantly increased background B/M values (p