G. Moschini

TL;DR: The proton RBE-LET relationship for cell inactivation is shifted to lower LET values compared with that for heavier ions, and the RBE for mutation induction increased continuously with LET.

TL;DR: Re-evaluation of the physical parameters for all the proton beams used in previous radiobiological investigations leads to significant changes in the dose-response curves and in the RBE-LET relationships, pointing out that there is a LET range where protons are more effective than alpha-particles.

TL;DR: RBE for inactivation with high-LET protons increased with the cellular radioresistance to gamma-rays, and a similar trend has been found in studies reported in the literature with He, C, N ions with LET in the range 20-125 keV/microm on human tumour cell lines.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that complex, less reparable DSB are induced in higher proportion by light ions with respect to gamma-rays and that, for the same ion, increasing LET leads to an increase in this proportion is supported.

TL;DR: Differences were observed in the yield and spatial correlation, at a molecular size scale characteristic of loop dimensions, of the double-strand breaks induced by γ-rays and by light ions, which may have a role in the observed different cell response to these radiations.