An Investigation Of Various Intrinsic And External Factors That Influence In Vitro Cell Survival Outcomes During Radiation-Induced Bystander Effect Experiments

Abstract

The radiation-induced bystander effect is an important phenomenon in the field of radiation biology. It has been shown that cells, after exposure to radiation, can communicate with surrounding cells and affect their physiology. Otherwise-healthy recipient cells can be influenced to undergo cellular senescence or apoptosis through this process. This has potential utilizations for radiation oncology and as well as our understanding of radiation safety. The radiation-induced bystander effect has been extensively investigated since the 1990s, but the scientific community struggles to come to a unanimous decision on how strongly these signals impact the survival of bystander cells. Results show various degrees of impact on cell survival whereas certain studies refute the existence of a radiation-induced bystander effect. This may be due to the fact that there is a great deal of study heterogeneity within the radiation-induced bystander effect community. Most experiments follow a similar general bystander protocol but often use different donor and reporter cell lines that vary in sex, organ of origin, and p53 status. The type of radiation and dose rate also typically differ between experimental designs. In this analysis, 67 in vitro, medium-transfer, radiation-induced, bystander effect studies were retrospectively graphed and analyzed to determine which intrinsic and external factors contributed significantly to the overall survival percentage change observed in reporter cells. A Two-Way ANOVA was conducted on each variable and showed that the reporter cell line, p53 status, and radiation type had a statistically significant effect on survival percentage change. These findings may explain the variation in results seen in past experiments and may help standardize future research allowing for more direct comparisons.