title: A model for radiation-induced bystander effects, with allowance for spatial position and the effects of cell turnover.
abstract: Bystander effects, whereby cells that are not directly exposed to ionizing radiation exhibit adverse biological effects, have been observed in a number of experimental systems. A novel stochastic model of the radiation-induced bystander effect is developed that takes account of spatial location, cell killing and repopulation. The ionizing radiation dose- and time-responses of this model are explored, and it is shown to exhibit pronounced downward curvature in the high dose-rate region, similar to that observed in many experimental systems, reviewed in the paper. It is also shown to predict the augmentation of effect after fractionated delivery of dose that has been observed in certain experimental systems. It is shown that the generally intractable solution of the full stochastic system can be considerably simplified by assumption of pairwise conditional dependence that varies exponentially over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK. mark.little@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: J A N
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Filipe
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Prise
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Folkard
authors.forename: O V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Belyakov
mesh_terms: D024201:Bystander Effect / Q000528:radiation effects*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000528:radiation effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000528:radiation effects; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D013269:Stochastic Processes