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Mammography, Breast Tomosynthesis, and Risk of Radiation-Induced Breast Cancer
Published in Paolo Russo, Handbook of X-ray Imaging, 2017
One intriguing line of investigation regarding radiation effects is the so-called “bystander effect” (BEIR, National Research Council 2006, pp. 45, 53–55) (Morgan 2003), which suggests that even cells that are not directly hit by radiation may become affected. This is presumably because of cell–cell signaling between a damaged cell and the surrounding cells. Some studies (Dent et al. 1999; Lorimore et al. 2001) have indicated that this may decrease cancer risk by causing the affected cell to be eliminated, whereas others have suggested that this might actually increase the risk as this cell signaling adversely affects the normal cells nearby (Belyakov et al. 2001). It is possible both positive and negative bystander effects may play a role in humans, but their effects at low doses have been limited to laboratory studies, and have not been observable in a human population (BEIR, National Research Council 2006, p. 55).
Avoiding Risk
Published in Kenneth L. Mossman, Radiation Risks in Perspective, 2006
The bystander effect refers to the capacity of cells affected directly by radiation to transfer biological responses to other cells not directly targeted by radiation. Responses in nontargeted cells can be beneficial or detrimental. The term adaptive response refers to a biological response whereby the exposure of cells to a low dose of radiation induces mechanisms that protect the cell against the detrimental effects of other events or agents, including spontaneous events or subsequent radiation exposure. Intercellular communication (i.e., cell signaling) implies that the damaged cell elaborates one or more diffusible chemical signals that affect neighboring nontargeted cells.
The impact of radicals in cold atmospheric plasma on the structural modification of gap junction: a reactive molecular dynamics study
Published in International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials, 2019
Rong-Guang Xu, Zhitong Chen, Michael Keidar, Yongsheng Leng
Although the underlying mechanism of bystander effect remains unclear, it has been demonstrated that direct irradiated cells might transmit the bystander effect to the neighboring cells through a process called gap junction intercellular communication [16]. Some studies have demonstrated that tumor cells are more sensitive than healthy cells to the bystander effect coming from irradiated cells, resulting in an advantage in tumor treatment [17]. As of plasma medicine, what the role gap junction plays in reducing or facilitating eradication of tumor cells upon the impact of plasma-generated ROS is not yet well understood. Therefore, the functional importance of gap junction needs to be investigated at molecular level. In this study, we first propose that plasma-generated ROS induce bystander effect via gap junction, and we will confirm this hypothesis by using molecular dynamics simulations.