In Reply to Dr. Azria et al.

Abstract

To the Editor: In their letter Azria et al. point to methodologic limitations of our study that were addressed in the study conclusions ( 1 Schnarr K. Boreham D. Sathya J. et al. Radiation-induced lymphocyte apoptosis to predict radiation therapy late toxicity in prostate cancer patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2009; 74: 1424-1430 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (53) Google Scholar ). We agree that a major limitation was the time delay between therapy and blood collection in our patients. Although this may cause confounding, it is unlikely to affect the data quality because patient toxicity was collected prospectively with blood collection occurring afterward, making our study similar in design to theirs ( 2 Azria D. Ozsahin M. Kramar A. et al. Single nucleotide polymorphisms, apoptosis, and the development of severe late adverse effects after radiotherapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2008; 14: 6284-6288 Crossref PubMed Scopus (119) Google Scholar ). Radiation-Induced Sequelae Measured by Means of Lymphocyte Apoptosis: Importance of Certain Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms: In Regard to Schnarr et al. (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2009)International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, PhysicsVol. 75Issue 4PreviewTo the Editor: We read with great interest the article by Schnarr et al.(1) on the prediction of radiation therapy late toxicity in prostate cancer patients measured by means of lymphocyte apoptosis. Full-Text PDF