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A new platform for ultra-high dose rate radiobiological research using the BELLA PW laser proton beamline.

Authors :
Bin, Jianhui
Obst-Huebl, Lieselotte
Mao, Jian-Hua
Nakamura, Kei
Geulig, Laura D.
Chang, Hang
Ji, Qing
He, Li
De Chant, Jared
Kober, Zachary
Gonsalves, Anthony J.
Bulanov, Stepan
Celniker, Susan E.
Schroeder, Carl B.
Geddes, Cameron G. R.
Esarey, Eric
Simmons, Blake A.
Schenkel, Thomas
Blakely, Eleanor A.
Steinke, Sven
Source :
Scientific Reports; 1/27/2022, Vol. 12 Issue 1, p1-15, 15p
Publication Year :
2022

Abstract

Radiotherapy is the current standard of care for more than 50% of all cancer patients. Improvements in radiotherapy (RT) technology have increased tumor targeting and normal tissue sparing. Radiations at ultra-high dose rates required for FLASH-RT effects have sparked interest in potentially providing additional differential therapeutic benefits. We present a new experimental platform that is the first one to deliver petawatt laser-driven proton pulses of 2 MeV energy at 0.2 Hz repetition rate by means of a compact, tunable active plasma lens beamline to biological samples. Cell monolayers grown over a 10 mm diameter field were exposed to clinically relevant proton doses ranging from 7 to 35 Gy at ultra-high instantaneous dose rates of 10<superscript>7</superscript> Gy/s. Dose-dependent cell survival measurements of human normal and tumor cells exposed to LD protons showed significantly higher cell survival of normal-cells compared to tumor-cells for total doses of 7 Gy and higher, which was not observed to the same extent for X-ray reference irradiations at clinical dose rates. These findings provide preliminary evidence that compact LD proton sources enable a new and promising platform for investigating the physical, chemical and biological mechanisms underlying the FLASH effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20452322
Volume :
12
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Scientific Reports
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
154922082
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05181-3