Search

Purpose: To explore the feasibility of improving GBM treatment outcome with temporal-spatial dose optimization of an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that models the differentiation and distinct radiosensitivity between cancer stem cells (CSC) and differentiated cancer cells (DCC). Methods: The ODE was formulated into a non-convex optimization problem with the objective to minimize remaining total cancer cells 500 days from the onset of radiotherapy when the total cancer cell number was 3.5×10⁷, while maintaining normal tissue biological effective dose (BED) of 100Gy resulted from standard prescription of 2Gyx30. Assuming spatially separated CSC and DCC, optimization was also performed to explore the potential benefit from dose-painting the two compartments. Dose escalation to a sub-cell-population in the GTV was also examined assuming that a 2 cm margin around the GTV allows sufficient dose drop-off to 100Gy BED. The recurrence time was determined as the time at which the total cancer cell number regrows to 109 cells. Results: The recurrence time with variable fractional doses administered once per week, bi-week and month for one year were found to be 615, 593 and 570 days, superior to the standard-prescription recurrence time of 418 days. The optimal dose-fraction size progression for both uniform and dose-painting to the tumor is low and relatively constant in the beginning and gradually increases to more aggressive fractions at end of the treatment course. Dose escalation to BED of 200Gy to the whole tumor alongside with protracted weekly treatment was found to further delay recurrence to 733 days. Dose-painting of 200 and 500Gy BED to CSC on a year-long weekly schedule further extended recurrence to 736 and 1076 days, respectively. Conclusion: GBM treatment outcome can possibly be improved with a chronic treatment approach. Further dose escalation to the entire tumor or CSC targeted killing is needed to achieve total tumor control. This work is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1144087).

Purposes: The presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in a solid tumor could result in poor tumor control probability. The purposes are to study CSC radiosensitivity parameters α and β and their correlation to CSC levels to understand the underlying radioresistance mechanisms and enable individualized treatment design. Methods: Four established breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T47D, MDA-MB-231, and SUM159PT) were irradiated in vitro using single radiation doses of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 Gy. The fractions of CSCs in each cell lines were determined using cancer stem cell markers. Mammosphere assays were also performed to better estimate the number of CSCs and represent the CSC repopulation in a human solid tumor. The measured cell surviving fractions were fitted using the Linear-quadratic (LQ) model with independent fitting parameters: α_TC, β_TC (TCs), α_CSC, β_CSC (CSCs), and fs (the percentage of CSCs in each sample). Results: The measured fs increased following the irradiation by MCF-7 (0.1%), T47D (0.9%), MDA-MB-231 (1.18%) and SUM159T (2.46%), while decreasing surviving curve slopes were observed, indicating greater radioresistance, in the opposite order. The fitting yielded the radiosensitive parameters for the MCF-7: α_TC=0.1±0.2Gy−1, β_TC= 0.08 ±0.14Gy−2, α_CSC=0.04±0.07Gy−1, β_CSC =0.02±0.3Gy−2; for the SUM159PT, α_TC=0.08±0.25 Gy−1, β_TC=0.02±0.02Gy−2, α_CSC=0.04±0.18Gy−1, β_CSC =0.004±0.24Gy−2. In the mammosphere assay, where fs were higher than the corresponding cell line assays, there was almost no shoulder found in the surviving curves (more radioresistant in mammosphere assays) yielding β_CSC of approximately 0. Conclusion: Breast cancer stem cells were more radioresistant characterized by smaller α and β values compared to differentiated breast cancer cells. Percentage of breast cancer stem cells strongly correlated to overall tumor radioresistance. This observation suggested the feasibility of individualized radiotherapy prescription based on the fractions of cancer stem cells found in biopsy.

Purpose: To explore the aggressive recurrence and radioresistence of GBM with a dual compartment tumor survival mathematical model based on intrinsic tumor heterogeneity, cancer stem cells (CSC) and differentiated cancer cells (DCC). Methods: The repopulation and differentiation responses to radiotherapy of a solid tumor were simulated using an Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE). To obtain the tumor radiobiological parameters, we assumed that a tumor consists of two subpopulations, each with its distinctive linear quadratic parameters. The dual compartment cell survival model was constructed as SF(D)=F × exp(-α1 D-β1D2) + (1-F) × exp(-α2D-β2D2) for a single fraction of treatment, with F as the fraction of CSC, and α and β describing the radiological properties of each population. Robust least square fitting was performed on clonogenic survival data from one GBM (U373MG) and one NSCLC (H460) cell line. The fit parameters were then used in the ODE model to predict treatment outcome of various treatment schemes. Results: The fit parameters from GBM cell survival data were (F, α1, β1, α2, β2)=(0.0396, 0.0801, 0.0006, 0.1363, 0.0279), exhibiting two populations with distinctive radiological properties, CSC more radioresistant than DCC. The GBM cell line exhibited significantly poorer tumor control than its single compartment model prediction and NSCLC, which responded well to hypofrationation. The increased radioresistance was due to rapid regrowth of the DCC compartment triggered by its depletion while maintaining a viable CSC population. The rapid regrowth can be reduced by treating dose fractions ≤ 2 Gy with a prolonged treatment period. Conclusion: The interaction between a radioresistant CSC compartment and DCC compartment can explain the poor clinical outcome of GBM after radiotherapy despite dose escalation and hypofractionation attempts. Lower dose fractions result in better treatment outcome but still eventually recurs. Dose escalation beyond 100 Gy and/or differentiation therapy will be vital in achieving GBM tumor control.