New Insights in Radiotherapy: Bridging Radiobiology and Oncology

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology and Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 420

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Science, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Interests: radiobiology; biomedical imaging; radiation safety; cancer treatment; medical physics; synaptic response; radiosensitization

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Medical Imaging and Radiologic Sciences, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan
2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan
3. Research Assistant Center, Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan
Interests: radiobiology; cancer biology; immunotherapy; radiotherapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Radiotherapy has long been used to treat or alleviate various types of cancer. Technological advancements have improved radiotherapeutic capacities and enhanced its safety. Nevertheless, the therapeutic outcomes are heavily influenced by associated radiation physics parameters and the induced radiobiological effects. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in the evaluation of physical and biological factors that lead to radiation-induced radiobiological effects, including the immunological effects of radiotherapy, the normal tissue-sparing effect enhanced by FLASH radiotherapy, the bystander effect via synaptic transmission, and radiation-induced lethality on different types of cancers at the organismic, tissue, and cellular levels. Topics of interest include the association of radiation beam quality with the abscopal effect through the activation of the systemic immune response and immunogenic cell death, tissue-specific responses to different irradiation regimens, parameters in mediating radiation effects to non-irradiated neurons, and the modulatory effect of LET on the radiation-induced lethality of different types of cancers. We invite contributions that provide insights into novel biological pathways, biophysical mechanisms, radioprotection and radiosensitization strategies, and regulatory considerations to ensure the appropriateness and safety of medical radiation applications.

Dr. Yuan-Hao Lee
Dr. I-Tsang Chiang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • tissue-sparing effect
  • bystander effect
  • factors that affect radiation-induced lethality
  • radiation-induced abscopal effect
  • mechanisms that enhance tissue radiosensitivity
  • synergistic effect from radiotherapy and immunotherapy
  • regulatory perspectives on medical radiation safety

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

8 pages, 543 KiB  
Communication
Assessment of Tumor Relative Biological Effectiveness in Low-LET Proton Irradiation
by Ying-Chun Lin, Jiamin Mo and Yuan-Hao Lee
Biomedicines 2025, 13(8), 1823; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13081823 - 25 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: Within the range of spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP), LET (linear energy transfer) gradually increases from proton beam entrance point toward the beam exit direction. While it is expected that the change in LET would lead to correspondent change in RBE (relative [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Within the range of spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP), LET (linear energy transfer) gradually increases from proton beam entrance point toward the beam exit direction. While it is expected that the change in LET would lead to correspondent change in RBE (relative biological effectiveness) on many human cell lines, the incomplete cell killing due to low LET can result in tumor recurrence. Hence, this study aimed to assess the RBE on different cancer cell lines along low-LET proton SOBP. Methods: The clonogenicity of A549 and Panc-1 cells after irradiation was evaluated for investigating cell radiosensitivity in response to different types of radiation. The isoeffect doses of 6-MV photon and low-LET proton beams that resulted in equivalent cell surviving fractions at proton dose of 2 or 4 Gy were compared. Results: Ratios of α/β of A549 and Panc-1 cells from photon irradiation are 51.69 and −0.7747, respectively; RBE (2 Gy proton SOBP) on A549 and Panc-1 cells are 0.7403 ± 0.3324 and 1.0986 ± 0.3984, respectively. In addition, the change in RBE with proton LET was in a cell-specific and dose-dependent manner (LET-RBE linear correlations: A549 cells [r = 0.4673, p = 0.2430] vs. Panc-1 cells at 4 Gy [r = 0.7085, p = 0.0492]; Panc-1 cells at 2 Gy [r = −0.4123, p = 0.3100] vs. 4 Gy [r = 0.7085, p = 0.0492]). Conclusions: Compared with A549 cells, Panc-1 cells present greater resistance to low-LET proton beams. In addition, currently employed generic RBE value at 1.1 for proton therapy neglected the variation in cell-/tumor-specific radiobiological responses toward different dose levels of proton beams. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights in Radiotherapy: Bridging Radiobiology and Oncology)
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