The use of the term ‘radiosensitivity’ through history of radiation: from clarity to confusion

Abstract

While 'radiosensitivity' was historically related to RI adverse tissue events attributable to cell death, the first efforts to quantify the RI risk specific to each organ/tissue revealed some different semantic fields that are not necessarily compatible together (e.g. adverse tissue events for skin, cataracts for eyes, RI cancer for breast or thyroid). To avoid such confusion, we propose to keep the historical definition of 'radiosensitivity' to any clinical and cellular consequences of radiation attributable to cell death and to introduce the term 'radiosusceptibility' to describe the RI cancers or any feature that is attributable to cell transformation.

The Nucleoshuttling of the ATM Protein: A Unified Model to Describe the Individual Response to High- and Low-Dose of Radiation?

“…Among the three RI effects mentioned above, individual radiosensitivity is historically the most documented [15]. Hence, let us focus on this notion through its different clinical features and the different attempts to predict them.…”

“…However, the cell survival assays are too time-consuming to be applicable in routine. Lastly, while the skin burns and other RI tissue reactions were described earlier, it is noteworthy that the term “radiosensitivity” appeared for the first time in 1907 [15]. Radiosusceptibility responses, i.e., RI cancers, are non-toxic effects attributable to cell transformation and genomic instability.…”

“…To date, the numbers of G2 chromosomal aberrations [25] and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase ( HRPT ) mutations frequency [26] may be considered as the most specific endpoints of the RI cellular transformation but are not consensual. Lastly, while the first RI cancers were described earlier, it is noteworthy that the term “radiosusceptibility” was proposed for the first time in 2016, to avoid any confusion with the use of “radiosensitivity” [15]. Radiodegeneration responses, i.e., non-cancer effects, are non-cancer effects attributable to mechanisms related to accelerated aging [18,27].…”

“…Telomere length and telomerase activity are frequently cited as the most specific endpoints to describe aging [2,30]. Lastly, it is noteworthy that the term “radiodegeneration” was proposed for the first time in 2016, in order to distinguish syndromes associated with cancer proneness and those associated with aging [15].…”

Regional Responses in Radiation-Induced Normal Tissue Damage

“…The increased precision of modern radiotherapy technologies can be used to spare radiosensitive tissues. The term radiosensitivity is broadly used in radiation oncology as the susceptibility to develop radiation-induced side effects [5,6]. Radiosensitivity can be used to describe the response of different cell types, tissues or organs.…”