Lung tumor response to inhaled Pu and its implications for radiation protection

Multistage models of cancer induction have been accepted in chemical and radiation carcinogenesis for many years. Most models assume that both initiating and promoting events are required for greatest expression of tumor incidence. The sequence of events is important in determining the shape of the dose-response curve. A total of 1058 female, SPF, Wistar, sham-exposed rats and 2134 rats given a single inhalation to 169Yb, 239PuO2 are being studied for lung tumor formation in a life-span study. Histopathological analyses have been completed on 1149 rats. Similar dose-response curves are seen for pulmonary fibrosis pulmonary metaplasia and lung tumor formation. Lung tumor incidences were: 0.6% (0 Gy), 0.5% (0.06 Gy), 0% (0.11 Gy), 0% (0.23 Gy), 4.5% (0.46 Gy), 0% (0.84 Gy), 13.8% (1.9 Gy), 18.6% (3.5 Gy), 72.5% (7.4 Gy), and 84.9% (15 Gy). The dose lung-tumor curve was best fit by a quadratic function and was not well fit by a linear function. It is proposed that the low-dose portion of the quadratic curve represents promotion event(s) due to increasing 239PuO2 particle clustering in subpleural regions, leading to a cellular evolution of focally intense inflammation, fibrosis, epithelial metaplasia and carcinoma formation. A defined, practical threshold dose may be useful with respect to setting radiation protection guidelines for lung tumor induction.