Objective: To study the change of laryngeal carcinoma cell apoptosis before and after radiotherapy.
Method: Living tissue of diseased region obtained from 27 cases of laryngeal carcinoma before and during radiotherapy 10, 30 and 60 Gy were used in this study. With terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), the spontaneous and radiation-induced apoptotic rate (AR)were examined.
Result: The AR of living tissue of laryngeal carcinoma before and during radiotherapy 10, 30 and 60 Gy were (21.0 +/- 0.7)%, (60.0 +/- 1.5)%, (42.0 +/- 1.3)%, (25.0 +/- 1.9)%, respectively. The radiation-induced apoptotic rate was significantly higher than that of spontaneous apoptotic rate (P< 0 . 5). In laryngeal carcinoma, spontaneous apoptosis was positively correlated with the radiation-induced apoptosis.
Conclusion: Detecting of AR of laryngeal carcinoma cells before and during radiotherapy may be helpful to predict the sensitivity of radiotherapy in laryngeal carcinoma patients.