Study on radiosensitivity of 6 pancreatic cancer cell lines in vitro

Objective To evaluate the radiosensitivity of 6 human pancreatic cancer cell lines in vitro. Methods Human pancreatic cancer cell lines SW1990, Capan-1, AsPC-1, MIAPaCa-2, PANC-1 and P3 were cultured. Their surviving fractions after irradiation using 6MV X-ray at the dose of 0-10 Gy were determined by clonogenic assay. Then their radiosensitivity parameters were calculated. Results The cell lines differed widely in their radiosensitivity (SF2=0.388-0.758). MIAPaCa-2 was most sensitive to X-ray while Capan-1 was most insensitive to it. There was no significant difference in radiosensitivity between MIAPaCa-2 and AsPC-1 as well as between AsPC-1 and SW1999. However, there was marked difference in the radiosensitivity between 2 cell lines of other groups. Conclusions Different cell lines have different radiosensitivities. Thus different radiotherapies should be employed in different patients with pancreatic cancer in clinical practice.