Melatonin exhibited its ability to ameliorate oxidative stress in both targeted and nontargeted tissues. Administration of melatonin boosted SOD and GPx activity in the normal tissues, but not in the tumor cells. Through stimulation and suppression of the antioxidant system, Melatonin may cause sensitization of the tumor cells while protecting the normal tissues.

Background. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery are routine treatments of breast cancer. However, these methods could only improve the living survival. Nowadays the combined therapy including herbals such as crocin is to study for improving breast cancer treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of crocin, paclitaxel, and radiation on MCF-7 cell. Methods. To evaluate the effect of crocin, paclitaxel, and radiation on survival rate of MCF-7 cells MTT assay was done. To investigate the apoptotic effect of experimental groups PI-flow cytometry was used and expression of apoptotic proteins (caspase-7, caspase-9, PARP, and p53) was studied by western blot. Results. This study revealed that the combined therapy of 0.01µmol/mL paclitaxel and 2.5 mg/mL crocin after 48 h could cause IC50 for MCF-7 cell line. This study showed that the combined therapy of 2 Gy gamma radiation with crocin could rise apoptosis in MCF-7 cell line from 21% (related to using 2 Gy gamma radiation alone) to 46.6%. Conclusion. Crocin and paclitaxel and crocin and gamma radiation had synergistic effect on MCF-7 cell line to get more significant apoptosis.

Introduction: Small angle, between 3° and 10°, X ray scattering is predominantly coherent giving rise to diffraction effects that can be observed as constructive and destructive interferences. These interferences carry information about the molecular structure of the tissue and hence can be used to identify changes that occur due to cancer.Method: In this study an energy dispersive X-ray diffraction method was used. The optimum scattering angle, determined from a series of measurements on adipose breast tissue at several angles from 4 to 7.3 degrees, was found to be 6.5°. Once optimized the system was used to measure the diffraction profiles (corrected scattered intensity versus momentum transfer) of a total of 99 breast tissue samples. The samples were both normal and tumour samples.Results: Adipose tissue showed a sharp, high intensity peak at low momentum transfer values of approximately 1.1nm-1. Adipose tissue, mixed tissue (adipose & fibroglandular) and tumor have peaks at different values of momentum transfer that can be used to identify the tissue. Benign and malignant breast tissues can also be differentiated by both peak positions and peak heights. It was also observed that the results were reproducible even after the tissue had been preserved at liquid nitrogen temperatures.Conclusion: We were able to differentiate between normal, benign and malignant breast tissues by using energy dispersive small angle x-ray scattering.

This study was undertaken to examine the effects of Radachlorin as a sensitizer in both photodynamic and radiation therapy on MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. Another purpose was to assess the effectiveness of radiotherapy in combination with photodynamic therapy. The cells were incubated with Radachlorin and then exposed, in the independent treatment groups, to red visible light (660 nm), at two energy densities (6 and 12 j/cm(^)2) and 2-Gy X-ray ionizing radiation. In addition, combination effects of these modalities were evaluated. The percentage of the cell survival was investigated using the MTT assay and also survival fraction was evaluated by colony assay. The results demonstrated Radachlorin had no significant cytotoxic effects alone. However, it had a strong cytotoxic effect in the presence of light on MCF-7 cells. Light and Radachlorin reduced the percent of cell survival to 47 %. Despite Radachlorin could not act as a radiosensitizer, using integration of Radachlorin with radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy resulted in a significant cell death in comparison to the control group. Colony assay revealed the synergistic effect of this combined therapy with reduction of survival fraction to 0.03. MTT showed that the viability of breast cancer cells was reduced to 28 % by this integration therapy. Combination of radiation and photodynamic therapy could be a worthwhile approach for breast cancer treatment. It appears that we can reduce the adverse effects of treatments without reducing the efficacy of therapy.

Industrial radiography is the process of using either gamma-emitting radionuclide sources or X-ray machines to examine the safety of industrial materials. The average annual effective dose in industrial radiography is one of the highest among radiation workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytogenetic effects of ionizing radiation in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 60 industrial radiographers and 40 non-exposed individuals as the control group by using cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay. Totally, the frequencies of micronuclei (MN), nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs) and nuclear buds (NBUDs) were significantly higher in the industrial radiographers than in the controls (p = 0.000). The mean MN frequency per 1000 binucleated cells in the industrial radiographers with last 5-y radiation dose of >100 mSv was significantly higher than those with ≤100 mSv (34.81 ± 12.7‰ vs. 26.33 ± 7.94‰, p = 0.024). The effect of age was observed in the control group and subjects with the age of >30 y showed significantly higher MN frequency compared with the subjects with the age of ≤30 y (9.45 ± 3.71‰ vs. 6.81 ± 3.05‰, p = 0.02). No obvious trend of increased MN as a function of either duration of employment or age or smoking status was observed in the industrial radiographers. The results show the increased levels of cytogenetic damages in the industrial radiographers. Even the workers exposed to the permissible doses are subjected to elevated frequencies of DNA damages. These findings confirm the importance of cytogenetic biomonitoring program beside physical dosimetry, surveying radiation safety of equipment and periodic training of workers for improvement of safety and radiation protection.

To reveal the role of key elements present in the hair of breast cancer patients on cancer development, the levels of a number of elements in scalp hair samples of 82 people including healthy individuals, people suffering from benign breast disease, and breast cancer patients were measured by PIXE analysis. Pellets of hair samples were prepared and bombarded by 2.2 MeV proton beam of a 3-MV Van de Graaff accelerator. The number of incident ions hitting the sample was indirectly measured using the RBS spectrum of a thin Ag film placed in the beam path. The concentrations of S, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, and Cu in the hair of healthy individuals were in agreement with those observed in the hair of hyperplasia and cancer patients within standard deviations. However, a lower average level of zinc was found in samples from hyperplasia and breast cancer patients. Strong positive correlations were found between iron and potassium as well as between calcium and potassium in the cancer patients. These results could be of significance in the screening for breast cancer.

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