Radiotherapy, radiobiology—can radiobiology contribute?

This paper tries to compare the relatively short time in which radiobiology could make a significant contribution to cancer therapy-in contrast to about two decades in which fundamental research into the initial mechanisms of radiobiological damage may be expected to have a significant effect. For the short term, emphasis is given to one way of improving the interaction of clinically required and relevant laboratory research data. The involvement and use of radiobiologists in the clinic and the laboratory can create an awareness of, and help to delineate, the limiting factors facing the clinician. This could guide research towards solving some of these in the laboratory. For example, it is suggested that radiobiology should concentrate on methods which are clinically acceptable for quantitating the dosetime dependence of various normal tissues to radiation (or any non-selective cytotoxic agent in cancer therapy). This would reduce laboratory research oriented towards experimental models for human tumours; it would increase the clinician's acceptance of feasible shorter term measurements by which to assess the effectiveness of innovations in therapy, than could be realized in most clinical trials today.