Radiosensitivity of four human tumor xenografts. Influence of hypoxia and cell-cell contact.

Contact effect (CE) and hypoxia have been studied in human tumor cell lines transplanted in athymic nude mice. Four cell lines--one melanoma (Bell) and three colorectal adenocarcinomas (HT29, HRT18, and HCT8)--were studied. Cell survival was determined with an in vivo to in vitro colony-forming assay. Survival curves were obtained under three different conditions: (1) tumor cells irradiated in air-breathing mice, (2) tumor cells irradiated in animals asphyxiated for 10 min, and (3) tumor cells plated and irradiated either immediately or 5 hr later. For all cell lines, radiosensitivity appeared to be lower when cells were irradiated in vivo than when they were irradiated in vitro. Only in the case of the HCT8 tumor did the relative in vivo radioresistance seem to be linked to hypoxia; in the other cell lines, hypoxia alone could not account for the lower in vivo radiosensitivity. Our results suggest that a CE plays an important role in the response of human tumor xenografts to irradiation.