The radiation-induced bystander effect (bystander effect) is the phenomenon in which unirradiated cells exhibit irradiated effects as a result of signals received from nearby irradiated cells. In November 1992, Hatsumi Nagasawa and John B. Little first reported this radiobiological phenomenon. [1]
There is evidence that targeted cytoplasmic irradiation results in mutation in the nucleus of the hit cells. [2] [3] Cells that are not directly hit by an alpha particle, but are in the vicinity of one that is hit, also contribute to the genotoxic response of the cell population. [4] [5] Similarly, when cells are irradiated, and the medium is transferred to unirradiated cells, these unirradiated cells show bystander responses when assayed for clonogenic survival and oncogenic transformation. [6] [7] This is also attributed to the bystander effect.
The demonstration of a bystander effect in 3D human tissues [8] and, more recently, in whole organisms [9] have clear implication of the potential relevance of the non-targeted response to human health.
This effect may also contribute to the final biological consequences of exposure to low doses of radiation. [10] [11] However, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that the bystander effect promotes carcinogenesis in humans at low doses. [12]
Note that the bystander effect is not the same as the abscopal effect. The abscopal effect is a phenomenon where the response to radiation is seen in an organ/site distant to the irradiated organ/area, that is, the responding cells are not juxtaposed with the irradiated cells. T-cells and dendritic cells have been implicated to be part of the mechanism. [13]
In suicide gene therapy, the "bystander effect" is the ability of the transfected cells to transfer death signals to neighboring tumor cells. [14]
Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle accelerator. Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body, and have not spread to other parts. It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor. Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers. The subspecialty of oncology concerned with radiotherapy is called radiation oncology. A physician who practices in this subspecialty is a radiation oncologist.
Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start within an hour of exposure, and can last for several months. Early symptoms are usually nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. In the following hours or weeks, initial symptoms may appear to improve, before the development of additional symptoms, after which either recovery or death follow.
The sievert is a unit in the International System of Units (SI) intended to represent the stochastic health risk of ionizing radiation, which is defined as the probability of causing radiation-induced cancer and genetic damage. The sievert is important in dosimetry and radiation protection. It is named after Rolf Maximilian Sievert, a Swedish medical physicist renowned for work on radiation dose measurement and research into the biological effects of radiation.
Gap junctions are one of four broad categories of intercellular connections that form between a multitude of animal cell types. First photographed around 1952 it wasn't until 1969 that gap junctions were referred to as "gap junctions". Named after the 2-4 nm gap they bridged between cell membranes, they had been characterised in more detail by 1967.
Hormesis is a characteristic of many biological processes, namely a biphasic or triphasic response to exposure to increasing amounts of a substance or condition. Within the hormetic zone, the biological response to low exposures to toxins and other stressors is generally favorable. The term "hormesis" comes from Greek hórmēsis "rapid motion, eagerness", itself from ancient Greek hormáein "to set in motion, impel, urge on", the same Greek root as the word hormone. The term 'hormetics' has been proposed for the study and science of hormesis.
Radiation hormesis is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not activated in absence of ionizing radiation. The reserve repair mechanisms are hypothesized to be sufficiently effective when stimulated as to not only cancel the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation but also inhibit disease not related to radiation exposure. It has been a mainstream concept since at least 2009.
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy nearby tissues.
Radioresistance is the level of ionizing radiation that organisms are able to withstand.
Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection technique employing ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly UV-C (180-280 nm), to kill or inactivate microorganisms. UVGI primarily inactivates microbes by damaging their genetic material, thereby inhibiting their capacity to carry out vital functions.
Radiobiology is a field of clinical and basic medical sciences that involves the study of the effects of ionizing radiation on living things, in particular health effects of radiation. Ionizing radiation is generally harmful and potentially lethal to living things but can have health benefits in radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer and thyrotoxicosis. Its most common impact is the induction of cancer with a latent period of years or decades after exposure. High doses can cause visually dramatic radiation burns, and/or rapid fatality through acute radiation syndrome. Controlled doses are used for medical imaging and radiotherapy.
In radiobiology, the relative biological effectiveness is the ratio of biological effectiveness of one type of ionizing radiation relative to another, given the same amount of absorbed energy. The RBE is an empirical value that varies depending on the type of ionizing radiation, the energies involved, the biological effects being considered such as cell death, and the oxygen tension of the tissues or so-called oxygen effect.
The term host cell reactivation or HCR was first used to describe the survival of UV-irradiated bacteriophages, that were transfected to UV-pretreated cells. This phenomenon was first thought to be the result of homologous recombination between both bacteria and phage, but later recognized as enzymatic repair. Modifications of the assay were later developed, using transient expression plasmid DNA vectors on immortalized fibroblasts, and lately on human lymphocytes.
A microbeam is a narrow beam of radiation, of micrometer or sub-micrometer dimensions. Together with integrated imaging techniques, microbeams allow precisely defined quantities of damage to be introduced at precisely defined locations. Thus, the microbeam is a tool for investigators to study intra- and inter-cellular mechanisms of damage signal transduction.
The Radiological Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF), located on the Columbia University Nevis Laboratories campus in Irvington, New York is a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering biotechnology resource center (P41) specializing in microbeam technology. The facility is currently built around a 5MV Singletron, a particle accelerator similar to a Van de Graaff.
The abscopal effect is a hypothesis in the treatment of metastatic cancer whereby shrinkage of untreated tumors occurs concurrently with shrinkage of tumors within the scope of the localized treatment. R.H. Mole proposed the term “abscopal” in 1953 to refer to effects of ionizing radiation “at a distance from the irradiated volume but within the same organism.”
Studies with protons and HZE nuclei of relative biological effectiveness for molecular, cellular, and tissue endpoints, including tumor induction, demonstrate risk from space radiation exposure. This evidence may be extrapolated to applicable chronic conditions that are found in space and from the heavy ion beams that are used at accelerators.
Travel outside the Earth's protective atmosphere, magnetosphere, and in free fall can harm human health, and understanding such harm is essential for successful crewed spaceflight. Potential effects on the central nervous system (CNS) are particularly important. A vigorous ground-based cellular and animal model research program will help quantify the risk to the CNS from space radiation exposure on future long distance space missions and promote the development of optimized countermeasures.
Ionizing radiation can cause biological effects which are passed on to offspring through the epigenome. The effects of radiation on cells has been found to be dependent on the dosage of the radiation, the location of the cell in regards to tissue, and whether the cell is a somatic or germ line cell. Generally, ionizing radiation appears to reduce methylation of DNA in cells.
In biochemistry, the oxygen effect refers to a tendency for increased radiosensitivity of free living cells and organisms in the presence of oxygen than in anoxic or hypoxic conditions, where the oxygen tension is less than 1% of atmospheric pressure.
Diffusing Alpha-emitters Radiation Therapy or DaRT is an alpha-particle-based radiation therapy for the treatment of solid tumors.