Low-dose radiation exposures to the total body or half body improved survival of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma radiation therapy patients

[XLNT Foundation]

Improved survival of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients was observed when they were repeatedly subjected to 10 cGy total-body or half-body irradiation in addition to the radiation treatments to the tumor (Total dose=1.5 Gy) (Sakamoto, 2004) (see graph below). 

These data indicate that low radiation had a cancer therapeutic effect consistent with radiation hormesis and contradicting the LNT model.

Tumors outside the Half-body Irradiation field also regressed in response to the repeated low-dose radiation exposures (Pollycove 2007), indicating that the cancer therapeutic effect was due to a systemic response (e.g. immune enhancement, or abscopal effect), and not due to tumor cell-killing from the total dose of 1.5 Gy.

References

SAKAMOTO, K. Radiobiological basis for cancer therapy by total or half-body irradiation. Nonlinearity Biol Toxicol Med, v. 2, n. 4, p. 293-316, Oct 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19330149

Pollycove, M, Radiobiological basis of low-dose irradiation in prevention and therapy of cancer, Dose Response, 5(1):26-38, 2006. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18648556