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Ablative versus fractionated radiation therapy: a controversial role in cancer invasion and metastasis

Oncogene volume 35, pages 5928–5929 (2016)Cite this article

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We have read with great interest the paper by Cui et al.1titled 'Radiation promotes invasiveness of non-small-cell lung cancer cells through granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor'. The study elegantly showed increased invasion and upregulation of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in two NSCLC cell lines in vitro after exposure to fractionated ionizing radiation (FIR, 3 fractions of 2 Gy). However, the data presented for the in vivo model is problematic and we question its validity and clinical relevance.

Second, the authors do not provide any suggestion as to how a single dose of 20 Gy to the entire lung of tumor-bearing mice constitutes an adequate validation for their in vitro data with FIR. There is growing evidence showing that the biology of ablative ionizing radiation (AIR), similar to the 20 Gy used by the authors, triggers different molecular, cellular and tissue responses that are not recapitulated by FIR,6, 7, 8 which have not been adequately addressed by the authors.

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References

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  1. Division of Radiation Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    A Oweida & B Abdulkarim

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  1. A Oweida
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  2. B Abdulkarim
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Correspondence to B Abdulkarim.

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Oweida, A., Abdulkarim, B. Ablative versus fractionated radiation therapy: a controversial role in cancer invasion and metastasis. Oncogene 35, 5928–5929 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2016.130

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