Hs. Lin, ADAPTATION AND CROSS-RESISTANCE - AN EXPLANATION FOR THE EXISTENCE OFDIFFERENT RADIOSENSITIVITIES AMONG MALIGNANT-MELANOMA CELLS, Medical hypotheses, 44(1), 1995, pp. 73-76
A hypothesis is presented to explain the apparent difference in the ra
dioresponsiveness of melanoma lesions whether they are located on the
skin or in other parts of the body The hypothesis states that the radi
osensitivity of a cell may change when the cell adapts to live and gro
w in a different environment. The most important environmental factor
that affects the radiosensitivity of cutaneous melanoma cells appears
to be the partial pressure of oxygen in their immediate environment. B
y virtue of adapting to grow in an environment having a high partial p
ressure of oxygen, the melanoma cells located on the skin may have dev
eloped a better antioxidant defense mechanism than cells that metastas
ize to, and grow in, other parts of the body having lower partial pres
sures of oxygen such as lymph nodes, brain and viscera. Because some o
f the cell-damaging effects of both oxygen and ionizing radiation are
mediated through a similar mechanism, the melanoma cells on the skin b
ecome cross-resistant to ionizing radiation because of their higher to
lerance to oxygen toxicity.