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Proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) has been used to analyze the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by in-vitro cultured human cells. For this purpose, two pairs of cancerous and non-cancerous human cell lines were selected:1. lung epithelium cells A-549 and retinal pigment epithelium cells hTERT-RPE1, cultured in different growth media; and 2. squamous lung carcinoma cells EPLC and immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells BEAS2B, cultured in identical growth medium. The VOCs in the headspace of the cell cultures were sampled: 1. online by drawing off the gas directly from the culture flask; and 2. by accumulation of the VOCs in PTFE bags connected to the flask for at least 12 h. The pure media were analyzed in the same way as the corresponding cells in order to provide a reference. Direct comparison of headspace VOCs from flasks with cells plus medium and from flasks with pure medium enabled the characterization of cell-line-specific production or consumption of VOCs. Among all identified VOCs in this respect, the most outstanding compound was m/z = 45 (acetaldehyde) revealing significant consumption by the cancerous cell lines but not by the non-cancerous cells. By applying multivariate statistical analysis using 42 selected marker VOCs, it was possible to clearly separate the cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines from each other.

BackgroundIn order to define new prognostic subgroups in patients with glioblastoma a miRNA screen (> 1000 miRNAs) from paraffin tissues followed by a bio-mathematical analysis was performed.Methods35 glioblastoma patients treated between 7/2005 - 8/2008 at a single institution with surgery and postoperative radio(chemo)therapy were included in this retrospective analysis. For microarray analysis the febit biochip "Geniom® Biochip MPEA homo-sapiens" was used. Total RNA was isolated from FFPE tissue sections and 1100 different miRNAs were analyzed.ResultsIt was possible to define a distinct miRNA expression pattern allowing for a separation of distinct prognostic subgroups. The defined miRNA pattern was significantly associated with early death versus long-term survival (split at 450 days) (p = 0.01). The pattern and the prognostic power were both independent of the MGMT status.ConclusionsAt present, this is the first dataset defining a prognostic role of miRNA expression patterns in patients with glioblastoma. Having defined such a pattern, a prospective validation of this observation is required.

Radiotherapy is a powerful cure for several types of solid tumours, but its application is often limited because of severe side effects in individual patients. With the aim to find biomarkers capable of predicting normal tissue side reactions we analysed the radiation responses of cells from individual head and neck tumour and breast cancer patients of different clinical radiosensitivity in a multicentric study. Multiple parameters of cellular radiosensitivity were analysed in coded samples of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and derived lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 15 clinical radio-hypersensitive tumour patients and compared to age- and sex-matched non-radiosensitive patient controls and 15 lymphoblastoid cell lines from age- and sex- matched healthy controls of the KORA study. Experimental parameters included ionizing radiation (IR)-induced cell death (AnnexinV), induction and repair of DNA strand breaks (Comet assay), induction of yH2AX foci (as a result of DNA double strand breaks), and whole genome expression analyses. Considerable inter-individual differences in IR-induced DNA strand breaks and their repair and/or cell death could be detected in primary and immortalised cells with the applied assays. The group of clinically radiosensitive patients was not unequivocally distinguishable from normal responding patients nor were individual overreacting patients in the test system unambiguously identified by two different laboratories. Thus, the in vitro test systems investigated here seem not to be appropriate for a general prediction of clinical reactions during or after radiotherapy due to the experimental variability compared to the small effect of radiation sensitivity. Genome-wide expression analysis however revealed a set of 67 marker genes which were differentially induced 6 h after in vitro-irradiation in lymphocytes from radio-hypersensitive and non-radiosensitive patients. These results warrant future validation in larger cohorts in order to determine parameters potentially predictive for clinical radiosensitivity.

Purpose: A European network was initiated in 2012 by 23 partners from 16 European countries with the aim to significantly increase individualized dose reconstruction in case of large-scale radiological emergency scenarios. Results: The network was built on three complementary pillars: (1) an operational basis with seven biological and physical dosimetric assays in ready-to-use mode, (2) a basis for education, training and quality assurance, and (3) a basis for further network development regarding new techniques and members. Techniques for individual dose estimation based on biological samples and/or inert personalized devices as mobile phones or smart phones were optimized to support rapid categorization of many potential victims according to the received dose to the blood or personal devices. Communication and cross-border collaboration were also standardized. To assure long-term sustainability of the network, cooperation with national and international emergency preparedness organizations was initiated and links to radiation protection and research platforms have been developed. A legal framework, based on a Memorandum of Understanding, was established and signed by 27 organizations by the end of 2015. Conclusions: RENEB is a European Network of biological and physical-retrospective dosimetry, with the capacity and capability to perform large-scale rapid individualized dose estimation. Specialized to handle large numbers of samples, RENEB is able to contribute to radiological emergency preparedness and wider large-scale research projects. ARTICLE HISTORY