Radiation carcinogenesis

Misrepair of DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation is a potential cause of carcinogenesis following exposure to radiation. Radiation exposure increases the incidence of the same types of mutations that occur spontaneously in a given population. A high incidence of DNA double-strand breaks is characteristic of damage by ionizing radiation compared with those induced by other environmental mutagens. In China, residents living in areas with high level background radiation (6 mSv/y) had a significantly higher frequency of dicentric and ring chromosomes compared to that for the residents living in the control areas (2 mSv/y). Radiation-associated increases in risk were seen for most sites. Gender-averaged excess absolute risk rates estimated at age 70, after exposure at age 30, differ in the sites, and the risks of gastric cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer were highly increased, in that order. Latent periods for the development of leukemia and thyroid cancer after radiation exposure at ages younger than 18 were shorter compared to those for other solid cancers.