Lung radiation-induced

Cancer is the major latent harmful effect produced by ionizing radiation and the one that most people exposed to radiation are concerned about. The ability of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation to produce cancer in virtually every tissue and organ in laboratory animals has been well-demonstrated. The development of cancer is not an immediate effect. In humans, radiation-induced leukemia has the shortest latent period at 2 years, while other radiation induced cancers have latent periods >20 years. The mechanism by which cancer is induced in living cells is complex and is a topic of intense study. Exposure to ionizing radiation can produce cancer at any site within the body however, some sites appear to be more common than others, such as the breast, lung, stomach, and thyroid. 

Sevc J. and Placek V., 1973, Radiation Induced Lung Cancer ... 

Hofmann, W., Cellular Lung Dosimetry for Inhaled Radon Decay Products as a Base for Radiation - Induced Lung Cancer Risk Assessment. Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 20 95-112 (1982). 

Little, J. B., A. R. Kennedy and R. B. McGandy, Lung cancer induced in hamsters by low-doses of alpha radiation from polonium-210, Science 188 737-738 (1975). 

Radiation is carcinogenic. The frequency of death from cancer of the thyroid, breast, lung, esophagus, stomach, and bladder was higher in Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb than in nonexposed individuals, and carcinogenesis seems to be the primary latent effect of ionizing radiation. The minimal latent period of most cancers was <15 years and depended on an individual s age at exposure and site of cancer. The relation of radiation-induced cancers to low doses and the shape of the dose-response curve (linear or nonlinear), the existence of a threshold, and the influence of dose rate and exposure period have to be determined (Hobbs and McClellan 1986). 

FuksZ. Intravenous bFGF protects the lung against radiation-induced apoptosis in vivo. Cancer J1995 1 62-72. 

Radiation-induced cancers in humans are found to occur in the hemopoietic system, the lung, the thyroid, the liver, the bone, the skin, and other tissues. 

Hellstrom, and R. Henriksson. Tobacco smoke exposure suppresses radiation-induced inflammation in the lung a study of bronchoalveolar lavage and ultrastructural morphology in NT292 the rat. Eur Respir J 1993 6(8) 1173-1180. 

The critical tissue is the bronchial epithelium, where radiation-induced lung cancers are believed to originate, and many calculations and experiments with models of the upper respiratory system have been done to estimate the dose to this region (James, 1987,a,b). 

Pickrell, J.A., Abdel-Mageed, A.B. (1995). 10. Radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis. In Pulmonary Fibrosis (S.H. Phan, R.S. Thrall, eds), Lung Biology in Health and Disease 80 363-81. 

Pickrell, J.A., Schnizlein, C.T., Hahn, F.F., Snipes, M.B., Jones, R.K. (1978). Radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis study of changes in collagen constituents in different lung regions of Beagle dogs after inhalation of beta-emitting radionuclides. Radial Res. 74 363-77. 

Mould, R.F. (2001). Depleted uranium and radiation-induced lung cancer and leukaemia. Br. J. Radiol. 74 677-83. 

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