Shuttling towards a predictive assay for radiotherapy

Acute and late effects such as moist desquamation, radiation enteropathy, and radiation-induced secondary malignancy, which occur in up to 20% of patients, constitute major drawbacks to radiation therapy. As a result, many studies have attempted to identify individuals who are likely to suffer these effects prior to therapy (1). Many of the studies have focused on DNA damage and repair because of their strong association with cell survival. However, to date no assays have been developed that reliably predict patient response.