Laser-driven proton beam irradiation on in-vitro human cancer cells

Yogo, Akifumi; Sato, Katsutoshi*; Nishikino, Masaharu; Mori, Michiaki; Teshima, Teruki*; Numasaki, Hodaka*; Murakami, Masao*; Ogura, Koichi; Sagisaka, Akito; Orimo, Satoshi; Nishiuchi, Mamiko; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Tampo, Motonobu; Sakaki, Hironao; Bolton, P. R.; Daido, Hiroyuki

In this work, we demonstrate the irradiation effect of laser accelerated protons induced on human lung cancer cells. In-vitro A549 cells are irradiated with a proton dose of 20 Gy, resulting in a distinct formation of -H2AX foci as an indicator of DNA double-strand breaks. This is the first result showing that laser-driven ion beams can generate a lethal effect on cancer cells.