Biological Effect and Molecular Mechanism of Heavy Ion Irradiation on Human Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma CAL27 Cells

Objective The biological effect and molecular mechanism of heavy ion ¹²C⁶⁺ ion irradiation on human tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL27 cells.

Methods We applied different doses of heavy ion beam (¹²C⁶⁺) to irradiate in vitro cultured human tongue cancer CAL27 cells. We adopted MTT, Transwell migration and invasion, flow cytometry, wound scratch assay and colony formation assay to observe the effect of heavy ion beam (¹²C⁶⁺) on CAL27 cells migration, invasion, apoptosis and cycle. Western blot was used to observe the effect tof heavy ion beam (¹²C⁶⁺) on CAL27 cells proliferation.

Results The inhibitory effect of heavy ion irradiation on CAL27 cells proliferation was positively correlated with dose and time. Compared with blank control group, at the same time point, the effect of different doses of heavy ion beam (¹²C⁶⁺) on P53, P65 and VEGF expression was evidently. With the increasing irradiation dose of heavy ion beam (¹²C⁶⁺), the P53, P65 and VEGF expression were decreased significantly (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Heavy ion irradiation inhibits the proliferation of CAL27 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner.