Do low dose-rate bystander effects influence domestic radon risks?
D. J. Brenner * and R. K. Sachs Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Abstract. Purpose. Radon risks derive from exposure of bronchio-epithelial cells to high-LET alpha particles. Alpha particle exposure can result in bystander effects, where irradiated cells emit signals resulting in damage to nearby unirradiated bystander cells. This can result in non-linear dose-response relations, and inverse dose-rate effects. Domestic radon risk estimates are currently extrapolated from miner data which are at both higher doses and higher dose rates, so bystander effects on unhit cells could play a large role the extrapolation of risks from mines to homes. We therefore extend an earlier quantitative mechanistic model of bystander effects to include protracted exposure, with the aim of quantifying the significance of the bystander effect for very prolonged ex
D. J. Brenner * and R. K. Sachs Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Abstract. Purpose. Radon risks derive from exposure of bronchio-epithelial cells to high-LET alpha particles. Alpha particle exposure can result in bystander effects, where irradiated cells emit signals resulting in damage to nearby unirradiated bystander cells. This can result in non-linear dose-response relations, and inverse dose-rate effects. Domestic radon risk estimates are currently extrapolated from miner data which are at both higher doses and higher dose rates, so bystander effects on unhit cells could play a large role the extrapolation of risks from mines to homes. We therefore extend an earlier quantitative mechanistic model of bystander effects to include protracted exposure, with the aim of quantifying the significance of the bystander effect for very prolonged ex
