Table 1.

Summary of approaches to personalized cancer risk assessments.

Approach	Underlying concept	Examples of marker or data used
Personal/family medical history	For some tumor types radiogenic cancer risk is determined, in part, by background risk	Family or personal history of cancer, intestinal polyps, breast biopsies
Detection of preneoplastic cells, dormant microtumors	Preneoplastic cells and microtumors can be detected in clinically normal individuals; some of these can undergo promotion or progression due to radiation exposure	Blood or tissue aspirates assayed for cancer related mutations or biomarkers; in situ detection of pre-invasive tumors by imaging
Phenotypic assays of sensitivity	Radiogenic cancer susceptibility can be due to a number of genetic and non-genetic causes; ex vivo radiosensitivity assays of cells or tissues are agnostic in regard to the cause of susceptibility	LDR gamma-H2AX and G2 chromosomal radiosensitivity assays using peripheral blood cells or fibroblasts; cancer biomarker detection in cells or tissues irradiated in humanized mice
Genotypic assays of sensitivity	Individuals vary in their susceptibility to radiogenic cancer due to their genetic backgrounds	Genomic sequence polymorphisms