Investigation of chromosome damage in human cells irradiated by beam for proton therapy produced by phasotron at the joint institute for nuclear research

Abstract

The physical characteristics of the proton beam produced by a phasotron at JINR for radiation therapy are given. Chromosome damage in cells on the model of human blood lymphocytes irradiated by the initial proton beam with an energy of 170 MeV at the entrance to the object and in the Bragg peak region is studied, which corresponds to the irradiation of surrounding tissues along the beam path and tumor tissues. High proton efficiency in the Bragg peak is shown. RBE in the Bragg peak is ∼1.25 in the dose range 1–4 Gy, while the proton efficiency of the initial beam is the same as that of standard γ radiation. Since delivering a dose to a tumor is performed by irradiating the patient from several directions (up to 7), the level of cytogenetic damage to cells of the surrounding tissues on the path of the initial beam is reduced by approximately an order of magnitude. Thus, for a dose of 3 Gy in a tumor, up to 80% of its cells are damaged, while the level of damage in the surrounding tissues does not exceed 10%. The results of investigations confirm the high efficiency of proton beams for radiation therapy.