The Effect of Radiosensitizers on the Survival Response of Hypoxic Mammalian Cells: The Low X-Ray Dose Region, Hypersensitivity and Induced Radioresistance

It has been shown previously that the extent of chemical modification of the hypoxic radiation response is dependent on dose. Some types of sensitizer are more effective at low doses (to 4 Gy) than at higher doses. Since such drugs are possible adjuvants to radiotherapy, the mechanisms responsible for the variable response at clinical doses are of interest. Existing reports on sensitization at low doses are summarized, and the effects of cisplatin and buthionine sulfoximine on the purported induced response to radiation in hypoxic cells are presented. Cisplatin at a low, nontoxic concentration (1 μM) appears to abolish the increased radioresistant portion of the survival response. A role for high-mobility-group protein binding by platinum drugs is hypothesized to explain their interaction with radiation, and conversely, it is suggested that the heretofore unexplained different behavior of certain hypoxic sensitizers at low doses could be, at least in part, an effect on the induction of resistance.