Table 3.

Priority research areas related to the key research topic: “individual radiation-sensitivity” within three research lines

Basic mechanisms	Health risk evaluation	Impact of radiation exposure characteristics
•To develop an understanding of the pathways affected by acute and long-term responses to low doses of radiation (inflammatory processes and immunological states) •To use systems biology and modelling to predict differences in outcome at both individual (qualitative changes affecting health-relevant pathways) and population (quantitative changes in health outcomes) levels •To identify genetic and epigenetic biomarkers of susceptibility to radiation-associated disease that can be applied in molecular epidemiology •To investigate mechanisms by which age at exposure, attained age, sex and lifestyle and other factors, including co-exposures to other agents may affect radiation risk	•To validate candidate biomarkers of individual sensitivity identified from the mechanistic studies in cohorts of exposed and non-exposed subjects that have developed cancer or non-cancer diseases •To improve or set-up key cohorts and conduct molecular epidemiological studies to determine factors (host and environmental) involved in individual sensitivity to radiation-induced cancer and non-cancer effects and to quantify their effects •To quantify the variation in risk between different population groups and the impact of different factors (age at exposure, attained age, co-exposures, and host factors) •To develop systems biology models of radiation-induced pathogenesis in dependence on individual risk factors	•To develop suitable cell, tissue, and in vivo models for the quantification of the impact of dose inhomogeneity and radiation quality on individual radio-sensitivity •To conduct epidemiological studies for the quantification of the impact of dose inhomogeneity and radiation quality on individual radio-sensitivity •To characterize how internal exposure, dose inhomogeneity, and radiation quality will influence the formation of candidate biomarkers identified in response to low LET external exposure •To study how dose distributions and related biological effects can vary between individuals at the same exposure conditions because of anatomical and physiological differences