Searching for genetic determinants of normal tissue radiosensitivity – Are we on the right track?

The ability to predict individual normal tissue complication risk prior to radiotherapy has been referred to as ‘the Holy Grail of radiobiology’ [1]. This saying implies that a reliable and clinically useful predictive assay for normal tissue radiosensitivity has been something long sought but never found. In the 1990s, efforts were made to develop predictive assays based on in vitro irradiation of various cell types. Though some studies have...