Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Ion-Induced Radiation Damage in Biomolecular
Systems
Thomas Schlatholter
Abstract
The interaction of keV ions with building blocks of DNA and proteins
is of fundamental interest to proton and heavy ion therapy. During the last decade,
ion-induced ionization and fragmentation was studied for isolated biomolecules,
biomolecular clusters, nanosolvated isolated biomolecules and solid thin biomolec-
ular films. This article gives a brief overview over the research on biomolecular
mechanisms underlying ion-induced radiation damage with a focus on the different
target systems.
11.1
Introduction
Triggered by the ideas of Wilson [
1
] who first recognized the great potential of
the unique dose distribution of fast protons, first clinical trials with proton therapy
were already carried out in the 1950s [
2
]. Over the last decades, proton therapy
of malignant tumors has developed into an established form of radiotherapy. With
a small delay, the even more promising heavy-ion therapy emerged which allows
for a better damage localization within the body and can give access to otherwise
untreatable tumors. Heavy ion therapy went through a phase of clinical trials first at
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory starting in the late 1970s with He and Ne irradiations
of skull base tumors [
3
]. In the 1990s, clinical trials were performed with C ions
e.g. for non-small cell lung tumors at the Research Center Hospital for Charged
Particle Therapy in Chiba, Japan [
4
] and for skull base tumors at the Gesellschaft
fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany [
5
]. Heavy ion therapy is
nowadays also considered an established form of cancer treatment. Presently, we
