Accounting for overdispersion of lethal lesions in the linear quadratic model improves performance at both high and low radiation doses.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The linear-quadratic (LQ) model represents a simple and robust approximation for many mechanistically-motivated models of radiation effects. We believe its tendency to overestimate cell killing at high doses derives from the usual assumption that radiogenic lesions are distributed according to Poisson statistics.

Materials and methods

In that context, we investigated the effects of overdispersed lesion distributions, such as might occur from considerations of microdosimetric energy deposition patterns, differences in DNA damage complexities and repair pathways, and/or heterogeneity of cell responses to radiation. Such overdispersion has the potential to reduce dose response curvature at high doses, while still retaining LQ dose dependence in terms of the number of

SUBMITTER: Shuryak I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7775901 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature