| A | adenine |
| AP | Abasic site (apurinic or apyrimidinic) |
| BD | base damage |
| BER | base excision repair |
| bp | base pair |
| C | cytosine |
| CA | chemotherapeutic agent |
| CRT | chemoradiation therapy |
| CS | cross section |
| DEA | dissociative electron attachment |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
| DSB | double strand break |
| EF | enhancement factor |
| f | penetration factor |
| Fpg | formamidopyrimidine N-glycosylase |
| G | guanine |
| IR | ionizing radiation |
| LEE | low-energy electron |
| LET | linear energy transfer |
| LMDS | locally multiple damage sites |
| MC | Monte Carlo |
| Nth | base excision repair endonuclease III |
| SSB | single strand break |
| T | thymine |
| TA | transient anions |
| U | uracil |