title: Individual response to ionizing radiation.
abstract: The human response to ionizing radiation (IR) varies among individuals. The first evidence of the individual response to IR was reported in the beginning of the 20th century. Considering nearly one century of observations, we here propose three aspects of individual IR response: radiosensitivity for early or late adverse tissue events after radiotherapy on normal tissues (non-cancer effects attributable to cell death); radiosusceptibility for IR-induced cancers; and radiodegeneration for non-cancer effects that are often attributable to mechanisms other than cell death (e.g., cataracts and circulatory disease). All the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind IR-induced individual effects are not fully elucidated. However, some specific assays may help their quantification according to the dose and to the genetic status. Accumulated data on individual factors have suggested that the individual IR response cannot be ignored and raises some clinical and societal issues. The individual IR response therefore needs to be taken into account to better evaluate the risks related to IR exposure.
authors.affiliation: Inserm, UMR 1052, Groupe de Radiobiologie, Centre de Recherche sur le Cancer, 28, rue Laennec, 69008 Lyon, France. Electronic address: nicolas.foray@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Foray
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sureté Nucléaire (IRSN), 31 Avenue de la division Leclerc, 92260 Fontenay aux Roses, France. Electronic address: michel.bourguignon@irsn.fr.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bourguignon
authors.affiliation: Radiation Safety Research Center, Nuclear Technology Research Laboratory, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), 2-11-1 Iwado-kita, Komae, Tokyo 201-8511, Japan. Electronic address: hamada-n@criepi.denken.or.jp.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamada
mesh_terms: D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004249:DNA Damage; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing
keywords: Individual radiodegeneration; Individual radioresponse; Individual radiosensitivity; Individual radiosusceptibility