Ionising radiation, such as gamma rays, X-rays and radioactive particles can cause cancer by damaging DNA. However, how this happens, or how many tumours are caused by radiation damage has not been known. Previous work on cancer had revealed that DNA damage often leaves a molecular fingerprint, known as a mutational signature, on the genome of a cancer cell. The researchers looked for mutational signatures in 12 patients with secondary radiation-associated tumours, comparing these with that had not been exposed to radiation.
Dr Peter Campbell from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, who led the study, said: "To find out how radiation could cause cancer, we studied the genomes of cancers caused by radiation in comparison to tumours that arose spontaneously.
By comparing the DNA sequences we found two mutational signatures for radiation damage that were independent of cancer type. We then checked the findings with prostate cancers that had or had not been exposed to radiation, and found the same two signatures again. For instance, radioembolization uses microspheres filled with radioactive isotopes to block a tumor's blood supply and starve it.
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Outside links: For the convenience of our users, RadiologyInfo. Toggle navigation. Overview What is radiation therapy? How is radiation therapy used in cancer care? Overview An increasing number of patients have their cancers treated successfully using radiation therapy. Professionals involved in radiation therapy treatment include: Radiation oncologists Radiation therapists Radiation oncology nurses Medical radiation physicists Dosimetrists Social workers Dietitians Click on any of the professionals listed above to learn more about that specialty.
What is radiation therapy? Cancer cells are more vulnerable to radiation for two reasons: they divide more rapidly than normal cells they do not repair this damage as effectively as normal cells. Radiation Therapy Process After radiation therapy has been ordered, a planning stage occurs.
Radiation Therapy Techniques Radiation can damage normal cells. It is important that the radiation be targeted to the cancer. Send us your feedback Did you find the information you were looking for? Yes No. Area Code:. Phone no:. Showers of radiation chop up the genome causing lots of damage simultaneously. These mutational signatures could be a diagnosis tool for both individual cases, and for groups of cancers, and could help us find out which cancers are caused by radiation.
Once we have better understanding of this, we can study whether they should be treated the same or differently to other cancers. UCL was founded in We were the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine.
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