Radiobiology FRCR part 1 Flashcards
How is a dose of radiation measured?
1J/Kg = gray (Gy)
Ho is equivalent dose defined?
ED = different effectiveness of tissue x dose
Measured in Sieverts
What are the phases of radiobiological effects?
physical - energy deposition, ionisation
Chemical - free radical, chemical modification
Biological - cell effects and toxicity
Where is RT most effective in the cell?
Nucleus, where DNA is attached to the nuclear membrane
How are free radical formed.
1st -excitement of H2O produces ionised H2O
2nd - Ionised water produce hydroxide ion and H free radical
How does radiation indirectly interact with DNA?
Photon excites e- leading to free radical formation with H2O, leading to DNA damage
How does radiation directly interact with DNA?
Photon excitements e- which damages DNA without H2O intermediate
What is the fenton reaction?
Peroixide catalyses with Fe2+ to hydroxy ions when oxidised to FE3+
What types of enzyme induced double-strand breaks (dsb) are there?
Blunt-ended
Cohesive end - exposed ss
What type of DNA breaks is associated with cell kill?
dsb
How does dsb lead to cell death?
chromosomal abberations
How does O2 increase DNA damage due to RT?
O2 is fixed to Irradaited DNA leading to the damage
What is the oxygen enhancement ratio (OER)?
ratio of radiation dose in hypoxia to the dose in air to produce the same biological effects
How is linear energy transfer (LET) defined?
Energy deposited per unit length of track (of radiation)
How are the tracks different in low LET?
Many branching tracks, sparsely ionising. From gamma or X-rays
How are the tracks different in high LET?
Fewer branching tracks, densely ionising. From alpha or carbon ions
How does LET effect cell kill?
higher LET has higher cell kill due to increased dsb.
What is optimum LET?
the value of LET which has the highest RBE
What is relative biological effectiveness (RBE)?
Ratio of dose of reference compared to rest radiation to compare equal effect.
What is the significant of cluster damage?
multiple breaks within a small length of DNA. more complex and difficult to fix, specially with dsb. DNA repair is LET dependent.
What types of DNA repair are there?
Direct substitution of damaged base. BER -base excision repair NER - nucleotide excision repair MMR- mismatch repair HR - homologous recombination NHEJ - non homologous end joining
What repair mechanisms are there for dsb?
Homolous recombination and non-homologous end-rejoining
Does direct substitution work?
Direct reversal - methyl taken from guanine to the cytosine on O6MGT to preserve the guanine….
Does direct substitution occur in RT?
No
How does base excision repair work?
- base recognised and removed
- cleavage of phosphodiester backbone.
- re-polymerised using undamaged strand as template
- resealing gap
What pathways of Ssd are there?
short patch (PARP) and long patch
What detects ssb?
PARP, which then recruits SSB repair scaffold protein.
What is nucleotide excision repair?
remove helix distortions in the helix due to a patch of bases
Does nucleotide excision repair occur in RT?
Radiation-induced crosslinks under hypoxic conditions
When in the cell cycle is homologous repair used?
S and G2 phase
When is homologous repair used?
In responce to dsb
How does homologous repair work?
- dsb detected
- endonuclease produces single strands from dsb
- homologous strand inversion
- new DNA based on homologous DNA strand template
When does NHEJ work?
End of G1 though throughout cell cycle
How does HR work with key involved protiens
o ATM - sensitisation and phosphorylated in DBS
o Recruitment of BRCA-1
o Stripped and then stabilised by RPA
o Damaged and duplicate strands approximate due to cohesin
o RAD51 – stabilises the homologuos (Holliday) structure
o DNA polymerase then repaures the homologous strands
How does NHEJ work?
- Ku binds to dsb
- DNA polymerase
- ligase 4 recruited, sticking helix back together
Which is more error prone HR or NHEJ?
NHEJ is error prone
What its the role of PARP, Ku and ATM?
dsb damage sensors
How is the majority of dsb repaired in RT?
NHEJ
What is the concept of synthetic lethality?
Normal cell have to methods of DNA repair, HR using BRCA and BER using PARP. therefore give PARPi to BRACA mt.
How are oxidised bases and ssb repaired?
Base excision repair
What is the survival fraction?
Colonies counted/ (cells seeded * plating efficiency%)
In the linear-quadratic model what is the alpha term?
Initial slope, the single-hit probability of inactivation target directly
In the linear-quadratic model what is the beta term?
probability of two independent formed single hits combining to form a lethal hit
What value of alpha/beta ration in dicates a radiosensitive tumour?
high a/b ratio
What does a large shoulder of the linear-quadratic curve represent?
A radio resistant tumour, low a.b ratio
what checkpoint is induced by RT in the cell cycle?
cell cycle checkpoint at G2
What is the most radio-resistant phase of the cell cycle?
Late S phase
What is the most radio-sensitive phase of the cell cycle?
G2 or M phase
What is potentially lethal damage repair?
cellular damage that is repaired between the treatment and analysis via assay.
What is sublethal damage repair?
increase in survival if a dose is split between two fractions in time.
How does fractionation affect cell kill?
- Increased sublethal damage repair.
- RBE increases RBE
How does dose rate effect cell kill?
Similar to fractionation.
lower rate = SLDR