Detailed analysis of the response of different cell lines to carbon irradiation

Published survival data for Chinese hamster ovarian cells CHO-K1 and their radiosensitive mutant xrs5 after irradiation by carbon ions of energies from 2.4 to 266.4 MeV u(-1) have been analysed using the probabilistic two-stage radiobiological model, which enables to represent the interplay of damage induction and repair processes. The results give support for the hypothesis that the differences in radiation sensitivity of diverse cell lines are given primarily by their different repair capabilities, and indicate the need for explicitly representing the outcome of repair processes in radiobiological models and treatment-planning approaches in radiotherapy.