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This review focuses on the relationship between radiation and tumor biology to clarify how radiation affects the biological structure and behavior of neoplasm cells, which is helpful for clinicians to achieve effective radiotherapy for maximal eradication of cancer cells while minimally killing normal ones.
- What Is Ionizing Radiation?
- How Does Ionizing Radiation Affect cells?
- What Is DNA?
- How Does Direct Action Affect DNA?
- How Does Indirect Action Affect DNA?
- How Sensitive Are Cells to Radiation?
Ionizing radiation is radiation that can remove electrons from an atom. Losing an electron charges, or ionizes, the atom. Sometimes, ionizing radiation takes the form of a wave, like gamma rays or X-rays. But it can also take the form of a particle, like neutrons or alpha and beta particles. You are surrounded by ionizing radiation. The Earth has a...
When ionizing radiation interacts with a cell, several things can happen: 1. The radiation could pass through the cell without damaging the DNA. 2. The radiation could damage the cell’s DNA, but the DNA repairs itself. 3. The radiation could prevent the DNA from replicatingcorrectly. 4. The radiation could damage the DNA so badly that the cell dies...
Every one of your cells contains deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This important molecule is like your body’s instruction manual. It constantly tells your cells what to do and how to do it. Every living organism has DNA in all of its cells. A DNA molecule is built like a twisted ladder. The long rails are made of sugar and phosphate molecules. These ar...
Ionizing radiation can interact directly with a DNA molecule’s atoms. This prevents cells from reproducing. Direct action can also damage critical cellular systems. Sometimes, it can even lead to cancer. Alpha particles, beta particles and X-rays can directly affect a DNA molecule in one of three ways: 1. Changing the chemical structure of the base...
Ionizing radiation can also affect important molecules other than DNA. For example, it can break the bonds holding water molecules together. This creates hydrogen (H+) and hydroxyls (OH-) ions. These are called free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive. This means that they easily combine with other ions inside cells. For example, hydroxyl i...
Some cells, like blood and reproductive cells, divide more often than others. These types of cells are much more sensitive to radiation. For example, embryos contain a lot of rapidly dividing cells. As a result, they are very sensitive to radiation. That is why pregnant women should limit their exposure to radiation. Fast-growing tumour cells are a...
Radiation therapy damages cancer cells but can also damage healthy cells in the treatment area. Damage to healthy cells causes side effects. Side effects depend on what part of the body receives radiation therapy. Different cells and tissues in the body cope differently with radiation. Rapidly dividing cells are affected the most.
At high doses, radiation therapy kills cancer cells or slows their growth by damaging their DNA. Cancer cells whose DNA is damaged beyond repair stop dividing or die. When the damaged cells die, they are broken down and removed by the body. Radiation therapy does not kill cancer cells right away.
Radiation therapy kills cancer cells, shrinks tumors and relieves cancer symptoms. It may be your only treatment, or it may be used to: Shrink tumors before other cancer treatments, like surgery (neo-adjuvant therapy). Destroy any remaining cancer cells after surgery (adjuvant therapy). Kill cancer cells that return after previous treatment.
Radiation works by making small breaks in the DNA inside cells. These breaks keep cancer cells from growing and dividing and cause them to die. Nearby normal cells can also be affected by radiation, but most recover and go back to working the way they should.
The mechanisms by which radiation may produce carcinogenic changes are postulated to include the induction of: (1) mutations, including alterations in the structure of single genes or chromosomes; (2) changes in gene expression, without mutations; and (3) oncogenic viruses, which, in turn, may cause neoplasia.
