Radiosensitization of bronchial carcinoma cells

Abstract

A lot of bronchial carcinomas overexpress the epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR. This leads to increased cell survival, proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis and decreased apoptosis. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the influence of EGFR inhibition by the monoclonal antibody Cetuximab on the induction and repair of double strand breaks (DSB). Three different NSCLC cell lines with different EGFR levels and KRAS mutation status were included in the experiments. An other point of interest was to find out whether the amount of DSBs shown by gamma-H2AX-foci varies between sensitized and non-sensitized cell lines. This would mean that these foci can be used as a biomarker for radiosensitzation.