Clinically relevant radioresistant cell line: a simple model to understand cancer radioresistance

Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the major modalities for the treatment of human cancers and has been established as an excellent local treatment for malignant tumors. Conventional fractionated RT consists of 2-Gy X-rays, fractionated once a day, 5 days a week for 5–7 weeks in total 60 Gy. The efficacy of RT depends on the existence of radioresistant cells, which remains one of the most critical obstacles in RT and radio-chemotherapy. To improve the efficacy of RT, understanding the characteristics of radioresistant cells is one of the important subjects in radiation biology. Several studies have been reported to find out molecules implicated in radioresistance. However, it is noteworthy that cellular radioresistance has been mainly studied among cells with different genetic backgrounds and different origins. Therefore, making a system to compare between radioresistant and sensitive cells with the isogenic background is required. In this review, some aspects of cellular radioresistance mainly focusing on clinically relevant radioresistant (CRR) cell lines that can continue to proliferate even under exposure to 2-Gy X-rays, once a day, for more than 30 days, which is consistent with the conventional fractionated RT are discussed.