Malignant tumours contain zones of chronic or acute
hypoxia, which influence their prognosis and progression. The goal of our study was to understand the role of
hypoxia in radio-resistance in a
squamous cell carcinoma cell line of the head and neck (KB-3-1 cells). Cell growth was evaluated by
Trypan blue exclusion under chronic
hypoxia (3-5% O2) for 4 weeks or under normal conditions (21% O2). Cells were then gamma-irradiated either by X-ray (2-6 Gy) or UV-C radiation (0.001-10 J/cm(2)). Apoptosis was estimated by double staining with
orange acridine and ethydium
bromide and fluorescence microscopy.
DNA content was estimated by FACS analysis. Expression of Bax, Bcl-2 and P53 was assessed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting. ROS production was measured by dichlorofluorescein fluorescence. Cell growth depends on
oxygen tension. It decreased by 42 and 70% at 5 and 3% O2 compared to control with a significant cell cycle arrest rather than increased mortality. Hypoxic cells are more radio-resistant (x2.5) than normoxic cells. Under chronic
hypoxia, Bcl-2 increased considerably in cells compared to control, while Bax and P53 did not change. After irradiation, in hypoxic cells very weak expression of the pro-apoptotic
Bax protein and no translocation of Bax to the mitochondria were observed. In addition, irradiation of control KB-3-1 cells demonstrated a large increase in ROS production (x2) compared to cells irradiated identically under
hypoxia. In conclusion, chronic
hypoxia: i) seems to slow-down cell growth of KB-3-1 cells without inducing apoptosis, ii) induces Bcl-2 overexpression and prevents radiation-induced apoptosis by inhibiting ROS production and altering Bax subcellular redistribution and conformational changes.