2019/02/26 by Krzysztof W. Fornalski · 1 citation
Mathematics · Medicine · #Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth #Effects of Radiation Exposure #Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry #Radiosensitivity #Context (archaeology) #Radiobiology #Hormesis #Ionizing radiation #DNA damage #Physics #Radiation #Adaptive response #Biological system #Statistical physics #Biology #Cancer research #Biophysics #DNA #Irradiation #Genetics #Optics #Quantum mechanics
paper · doi:10.1103/physreve.99.022139
openalex publication_date 2019/02/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/01/13
Elements of statistical physics formalism were applied to mutagenic and carcinogenic processes associated with cellular DNA; these are lesion (damage) creation, mutation creation, and cellular neoplastic (cancer) transformation. The probabilities of all state changes were strictly related to potential barrier heights between energetic states of DNA molecules. Barriers can be modified when radiation adaptive response mechanisms are applied, which are associated with a radiobiological quantity called radiosensitivity. It was discussed that radiosensitivity is determined by the cell's response to radiation resulting in three potential dose-response scenarios: linear, threshold, or hormetic. The type of dose-response is of critical importance in the development of radiation protection standards and individual radiation risk assessment. It is shown that the different scenarios describe different limits of the same underlying phenomena and the cell can respond in a linear, threshold, or hormetic way regarding its radiosensitivity. Finally, the dissipative adaptation mechanism is discussed in the context of proliferating cancer cells.