Delayed luminescence to monitor the in vitro effects of ionizing radiation

In this experimental work, the ability of Delayed Luminescence to discriminate among different cell lines and cytogenetic damage induced in vitro by proton beams at different doses was tested. In the framework of the research project ETHICS “Pre-clinical experimental and theoretical studies to improve treatment and protection by charged particles” funded by the INFN, we studied the Delayed Luminescence emitted by non-tumorigenic breast epithelial MCF10A cell line and metastatic breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line after irradiation at different proton beam doses (0.5, 2, 6 and 9 Gy). The experimental results open to the possibility of using Delayed Luminescence as non-invasive diagnostic tool in clinical survey.