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Experimental Biology and Medicine 229:378-382 (2004)
© 2004 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

MINIREVIEW

Health Risks of Low Dose Ionizing Radiation in Humans: A Review

Kedar N. Prasad1,*, William C. Cole* and Gerald M. Hasse{dagger}

* Center for Vitamins and Cancer Research, {dagger} Department of Radiology and Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262

To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at 1 Campus Box C-278, UCHSC, 4200 E. 9th Ave., Denver, CO 80262. E-mail: Kedar.Prasad{at}UCHSC.edu

Radiobiologists have been struggling to estimate the health risks from low doses of radiation in humans for decades. Health risks involve not only neoplastic diseases but also somatic mutations that may contribute to other illnesses (including birth defects and ocular maladies) and heritable mutations that may increase the risk of diseases in future generations. Low dose radiation–induced cancer in humans depends on several variables, and most of these variables are not possible to correct for in any epidemiologic study. Some of the confounding factors include (i) interaction of radiation with other physical (UV light), chemical, and biological mutagens and carcinogens in a synergistic manner; (ii) variation in repair mechanisms that depend on dose; (iii) variation in sensitivity of bystander cells to subsequent radiation exposure that depends on whether they have been pre- or postirradiated; and (iv) variation in adaptive response that depends on radiation doses and protective substances (antioxidants). In our opinion, both the linear no-threshold-response and the threshold-response models might not be suitable in predicting cancer risk at low radiation doses in a quantitative sense. Low doses of ionizing radiation should not be considered insignificant for risks of somatic and heritable mutations and neoplastic and nonneoplastic diseases in humans.

Key Words: ionizing radiation • low dose • health risk • mutations • cancer




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