Recent Reports on the Effect of Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation and Its Dose-effect Relationship

Overview

Journal Radiat Environ Biophys

Specialties Biophysics
Environmental Health
Oncology
Radiology

Date 2006 Feb 10

PMID 16468064

Citations 37

Authors

M TUBIANA

A Aurengo

D Averbeck

R Masse

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Recently, the risk associated with low doses of ionizing radiation has gained new interest. Here, we analyze and discuss the major differences between two reports recently published on this issue; the report of the French Academy of Sciences and of the French Academy of Medicine published in March 2005, and the BEIR VII-Phase 2 Report of the American National Academy of Sciences published as a preliminary version in July 2005. The conclusion of the French Report is that the linear no-threshold relationship (LNT) may greatly overestimate the carcinogenic effect of low doses (<100 mSv) and even more that of very low doses (<10 mSv), such as those delivered during X-ray examinations. Conversely, the conclusion of the BEIR VII report is that LNT should be used for assessing the detrimental effects of these low and very low doses. The causes of these diverging conclusions should be carefully examined. They seem to be mostly associated with the interpretation of recent biological data. The point of view of the French Report is that these recent data are incompatible with the postulate on which LNT is implicitly based, namely the constancy of the carcinogenic effect per unit dose, irrespective of dose and dose rate.

Citing Articles

Peripheral dose assessment in radiation therapy using photon beams: experimental results with optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter.

Ponmalar Y, Manickam R, Godson H, Ganesh K, Saminathan S, Chandraraj V Radiol Phys Technol. 2025; 18(1):275-286.

PMID: 39862358 DOI: 10.1007/s12194-025-00883-5.

Working with Convex Responses: Antifragility from Finance to Oncology.

Taleb N, West J Entropy (Basel). 2023; 25(2).

PMID: 36832709 PMC: 9955868. DOI: 10.3390/e25020343.

Younger North Americans are exposed to more radon gas due to occupancy biases within the residential built environment.

Simms J, Pearson D, Cholowsky N, Irvine J, Nielsen M, Jacques W Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):6724.

PMID: 33762674 PMC: 7990966. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86096-3.

The Response of Living Organisms to Low Radiation Environment and Its Implications in Radiation Protection.

Belli M, Indovina L Front Public Health. 2021; 8:601711.

PMID: 33384980 PMC: 7770185. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.601711.

What Can Chemical Carcinogenesis Shed Light on the LNT Hypothesis in Radiation Carcinogenesis?.

Trosko J Dose Response. 2019; 17(3):1559325819876799.

PMID: 31565039 PMC: 6755642. DOI: 10.1177/1559325819876799.

References

Mercier G, Berthault N, Mary J, Peyre J, Antoniadis A, Comet J . Biological detection of low radiation doses by combining results of two microarray analysis methods. Nucleic Acids Res. 2004; 32(1):e12. PMC: 373305. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gnh002. View

Christmann M, Tomicic M, Roos W, Kaina B . Mechanisms of human DNA repair: an update. Toxicology. 2003; 193(1-2):3-34. DOI: 10.1016/s0300-483x(03)00287-7. View

Rossi H, Kellerer A . Radiation carcinogenesis at low doses. Science. 1972; 175(4018):200-2. DOI: 10.1126/science.175.4018.200. View

Delongchamp R, Mabuchi K, Yoshimoto Y, Preston D . Cancer mortality among atomic bomb survivors exposed in utero or as young children, October 1950-May 1992. Radiat Res. 1997; 147(3):385-95. View

Cardis E, Vrijheid M, Blettner M, Gilbert E, Hakama M, Hill C . Risk of cancer after low doses of ionising radiation: retrospective cohort study in 15 countries. BMJ. 2005; 331(7508):77. PMC: 558612. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.38499.599861.E0. View

ABELSON P . Risk assessments of low-level exposures. Science. 1994; 265(5178):1507. DOI: 10.1126/science.7832844. View

Chalmers A, Johnston P, Woodcock M, Joiner M, Marples B . PARP-1, PARP-2, and the cellular response to low doses of ionizing radiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004; 58(2):410-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2003.09.053. View

Radisky D, Bissell M . Cancer. Respect thy neighbor!. Science. 2004; 303(5659):775-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.1094412. View

Rothkamm K, Lobrich M . Evidence for a lack of DNA double-strand break repair in human cells exposed to very low x-ray doses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003; 100(9):5057-62. PMC: 154297. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0830918100. View

10.

Brenner D, Doll R, Goodhead D, Hall E, Land C, Little J . Cancer risks attributable to low doses of ionizing radiation: assessing what we really know. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003; 100(24):13761-6. PMC: 283495. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2235592100. View

11.

Naumburg E, Bellocco R, Cnattingius S, Hall P, Boice Jr J, Ekbom A . Intrauterine exposure to diagnostic X rays and risk of childhood leukemia subtypes. Radiat Res. 2001; 156(6):718-23. DOI: 10.1667/0033-7587(2001)156[0718:ietdxr]2.0.co;2. View

12.

Tubiana M . Dose-effect relationship and estimation of the carcinogenic effects of low doses of ionizing radiation: the joint report of the Académie des Sciences (Paris) and of the Académie Nationale de Médecine. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005; 63(2):317-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2005.06.013. View

13.

Bishay K, Ory K, Olivier M, Lebeau J, Levalois C, Chevillard S . DNA damage-related RNA expression to assess individual sensitivity to ionizing radiation. Carcinogenesis. 2001; 22(8):1179-83. DOI: 10.1093/carcin/22.8.1179. View

14.

van Kaick G, Wesch H, Luhrs H, Liebermann D, Kaul A . Neoplastic diseases induced by chronic alpha-irradiation--epidemiological, biophysical and clinical results of the German Thorotrast Study. J Radiat Res. 1991; 32 Suppl 2:20-33. DOI: 10.1269/jrr.32.supplement2_20. View

15.

Rigaud O, MOUSTACCHI E . Radioadaptation for gene mutation and the possible molecular mechanisms of the adaptive response. Mutat Res. 1996; 358(2):127-34. DOI: 10.1016/s0027-5107(96)00113-3. View

16.

Guo M, Hay B . Cell proliferation and apoptosis. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1999; 11(6):745-52. DOI: 10.1016/s0955-0674(99)00046-0. View

17.

Feinendegen L, Neumann R . Physics must join with biology in better assessing risk from low-dose irradiation. Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2005; 117(4):346-56. DOI: 10.1093/rpd/nci357. View

18.

Amundson S, Grace M, McLeland C, Epperly M, Yeager A, Zhan Q . Human in vivo radiation-induced biomarkers: gene expression changes in radiotherapy patients. Cancer Res. 2004; 64(18):6368-71. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-1883. View

19.

Amundson S, Bittner M, Fornace Jr A . Functional genomics as a window on radiation stress signaling. Oncogene. 2003; 22(37):5828-33. DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1206681. View

20.

Lobrich M, Rief N, Kuhne M, Heckmann M, Fleckenstein J, Rube C . In vivo formation and repair of DNA double-strand breaks after computed tomography examinations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005; 102(25):8984-9. PMC: 1150277. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0501895102. View