Figure 1.

We can interfere in radiation damage by: (a) blocking the formation of free radicals; (b) blocking the free radicals, once formed, with free radical scavengers; (c) enhancing the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair process; (d) inhibiting death signalling pathways; (e) preventing the acute release of cytokines and growth factors by fibroblasts and endothelium during radiotherapy; (f) breaking the vicious cycle that continuously stimulates fibroblast and endothelium dysfunction; (g) preventing the survival of somatic mutated cells that repopulate the tissue with initiated cells; (h) preventing the DNA damage and hypomethylation of bystander cells.