Thermo-Mechanical Damage of Biomolecules Under Ion-Beam Radiation
The prediction of the relative biological effectiveness of ion beams requires the quantification of all the biomolecular damage processes involved in the interaction of energetic ions with biological media. Traditionally, the damage pathways have been cla
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Abstract The prediction of the relative biological effectiveness of ion beams requires the quantification of all the biomolecular damage processes involved in the interaction of energetic ions with biological media. Traditionally, the damage pathways have been classified as direct or indirect, the former being related to the direct action of the secondary electrons produced along the ion path with DNA molecules, while the latter are referred to the damage produced by the other chemical species generated, mainly free radicals. However, the development over the last years of the multiscale approach to ion beam cancer therapy has revealed the contribution of a new damage mechanism, not present in conventional therapy with photons or electrons: the thermo-mechanical DNA damage arising from the development of shock waves on the nanometer scale around the swift ion path. The present chapter explains the theoretical framework in which this effect is predicted and reviews the work performed over the last years to try to understand the role of this damage pathway in the mechanisms of ion beam cancer therapy. P. de Vera · N.J. Mason Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, England MK7 6AA, UK e-mail: [email protected] P. de Vera MBN Research Center, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany P. de Vera (B) School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, BT7 1NN, Belfast Northern Ireland, UK e-mail: [email protected] E. Surdutovich Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA A.V. Solov’yov MBN Research Center at Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie, Altenhöferallee 3, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany e-mail: [email protected] A.V. Solov’yov A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, Polytekhnicheskaya Ul. 26, 194021 Saint Petersburg, Russia © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 A.V. Solov’yov (ed.), Nanoscale Insights into Ion-Beam Cancer Therapy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43030-0_10
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1 Introduction In order to achieve a better control of ion beam cancer therapy (IBCT) an accurate picture of its underlying physico-chemical mechanisms is needed, which includes all the series of events that occur from the initial propagation of the energetic ions in tissue to the final irreparable DNA damage. This mechanistic understanding of IBCT should rely on a multiscale description, taking into account the very different space, time and energy scales involved in the problem [1]. The events considered start with the initial propagation of the ion beam in tissue on the macroscopic scale, although in very short times, of the order of 10−18 –10−17 s. After that, a large number of secondary electrons is ejected, which propagate mostly on the nanometer scale, and in times ∼10−16 –10−15 s, and can damage DNA molecules by ionization or electronic excitation. Diffusion of the generated free radicals follows, also on the nanometer scale and in times of the order of nanoseconds. The interaction of all these secondary species (electrons
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