The prestigious journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) has selected the article Excitation and ionisation cross-sections in condensed-phase biomaterials by electrons down to very low energy: application to liquid water and genetic building blocks for the back cover of its March issue and as one of the 2021 HOT PCCP articles (the hottest articles with the greatest impact). The authors, physicists Isabel Abril (University of Alicante), Rafael García-Molina (University of Murcia) and Pablo de Vera (UA alumnus, where he completed his PhD thesis, and currently a Marie Curie fellow at the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas in Trento, Italy) describe the results of their research: a new theoretical model of how low-energy electrons interact with the different bases of DNA, which helps to better understand the biological effects of different types of radiotherapies against cancer.

The results of this study are applicable in many areas, yet it is worth highlighting that of proton therapy, an innovative technique for curing cancer that is much less invasive than conventional radiotherapy. According to lecturer Isabel Abril, proton therapy is a treatment with beams of energetic protons which, like radiotherapy, acts on the DNA of cancer cells to destroy them, but in a much less invasive way. This is possible because the energy released reaches the tumour, causing less damage to healthy tissue along the way and, as the ions stop right in the tumour and this way they do not damage the surrounding organs. Another advantage of using protons instead of gamma rays is their precision. All of this benefits the patient, as there are fewer complications caused by this treatment which, as lecturer Abril explained, is especially indicated when tumours are not on the surface and in cases of paediatric cancer, due to the rapid development of cells in children.

At the moment there are only two centres in Spain using this technique, the private hospitals Quirón and Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, partly due to the high investment required in the facilities for this type of therapy.

Theoretical models — which are predictive when it is impossible to carry out studies experimentally — are used. In this particular case, the difficulty comes from the fact that the object of study is in a liquid state. As she explained, a person's body is mostly (80%) made up of water, the energetic protons ionise it, and a cascade of electrons that damage the DNA is produced. In order to break the chain of this biological molecule, it is also necessary for many breaks to occur in the same space and time so that the repair mechanisms do not work.

The results of this research have, as pointed out by Isabel Abril, other applications, such as protecting the occupants of manned missions from harmful radiation in space.

The paper, published in open access by the journal PCCP, can be downloaded for free at the following link.

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