Radiation induced bystander effect on hepatoma HepG2 cells under hypoxia condition

Objective To investigate radiation induced bystander effect and its mechanism on hepatoma HepG2 cells under hypoxia condition. Methods Non-irradiated bystander hepatoma cells were co-cultured with irradiated cells or treated with the conditioned medium (CM) from irradiated cells, then micronuclei (MN) were measured for both irradiated cells and bystander cells. Results The MN yield of irradiated HepG2 cells under hypoxic condition was significantly lower than that under normoxia, the oxygen enhancement ratio of HepG2 cells of MN was 1.6. For both hypoxic and normoxic condition, the MN yield of bystander cells were obviously enhanced to a similar high level after co-culturing with irradiated cells or with CM treatment, and it also correlated with the irradiation dose. When the hypoxic HepG2 cells were treated with either DMSO, a scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS), or aminognanidine, an iNOS inhibitor, the yield of bystander MN was partly diminished, and the reducing rate of DMSO was 42.2%-46.7 %, the reducing rate of aminognanidine was 42 %. Conclusion ROS, NO and their downstream signal facets are involved in the radiation induced bystander effect of hypoxic HepG2 cells. Key words: Hypoxia;  Hepatoma cell;  Radiation-induced bystander effect;  Micreuncleus;  Signaling factor