The Impact of the Geometrical Structure of the DNA on Parameters of the Track-Event Theory for Radiation Induced Cell Kill

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: When fractionation schemes for hypofractionation and stereotactic body radiotherapy are considered, a reliable cell survival model at high dose is needed for calculating doses of similar biological effectiveness. An alternative to the LQ-model is the track-event theory which is based on the probabilities for one- and two two-track events. A one-track-event (OTE) is always represented by at least two simultaneous double strand breaks. A two-track-event (TTE) results in one double strand break. Therefore at least two two-track-events on the same or different chromosomes are necessary to produce an event which leads to cell sterilization. It is obvious that the probabilities of OTEs and TTEs must somehow depend on the geometrical structure of the chromatin. In terms of the track-event theory the ratio ε of the probabilities of OTEs and TTEs includes the geometrical dependence and is obtained in this work by simple Monte Carlo simulations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this work it was assumed that the anchors of loop forming chromatin are most sensitive to radiation induced cell deaths. Therefore two adjacent tetranucleosomes representing the loop anchors were digitized. The probability ratio ε of OTEs and TTEs was factorized into a radiation quality dependent part and a geometrical part: ε (=) ε(ion ∙) ε(geo). ε(geo) was obtained for two situations, by applying Monte Carlo simulation for DNA on the tetranucleosomes itself and for linker DNA. Low energy electrons were represented by randomly distributed ionizations and high energy electrons by ionizations which were simulated on rays. ε(ion) was determined for electrons by using results from nanodosimetric measurements. The calculated ε was compared to the ε obtained from fits of the track event model to 42 sets of experimental human cell survival data. RESULTS: When the two tetranucleosomes are in direct contact and the hits are randomly distributed ε(geo) and ε are 0.12 and 0.85, respectively. When the hits are simulated on rays ε(geo) and ε are 0.10 and 0.71. For the linker-DNA ε(geo) and ε for randomly distributed hits are 0.010 and 0.073, and for hits on rays 0.0058 and 0.041, respectively. The calculated ε fits the experimentally obtained ε = 0.64±0.32 best for hits on the tetranucleosome when they are close to each other both, for high and low energy electrons. CONCLUSIONS: The parameter ε(geo) of the track event model was obtained by pure geometrical considerations of the chromatin structure and is 0.095 ± 0.022. It can be used as a fixed parameter in the track-event theory.