Prostate Cancer Patients with Late Radiation Toxicity Exhibit Reduced Expression of Genes Involved in DNA Double-Strand Break Repair and Homologous Recombination

Severe late damage to normal tissue is a major limitation of cancer radiotherapy in prostate cancer patients. In a recent retrospective study, late radiation toxicity was found to relate to a decreased decay of γ-H2AX foci and reduced induction of DNA double-strand break repair genes. Here, we report evidence of prognostic utility in prostate cancer for γ-H2AX foci decay ratios and gene expression profiles derived from ex vivo–irradiated patient...