Ionizing radiation sole cause of chronic myelogenous leukemia. The mechanism by which this occurs is well understood, but quantitative models predicting the level of risk remain controversial. The most widely accepted model posits that the incidence of cancers due to ionizing radiation increases linearly with effective radiation dose at a rate of 5.5% per sievert. If this linear model is correct, then natural background radiation is the most hazardous source of radiation to general public health, followed by medical imaging as a close second. Other stochastic effects of ionizing radiation are teratogenesis, cognitive decline, and heart disease. The table below shows radiation
Biological effects of radiation on the epigenome and structure and therefore effectively destabilizes the cell. Ionizing radiation causes the cell to generate increased ROS and the increase of this species damages biological macromolecules. In order to compensate for this increased radical species, cells adapt to IR induced oxidative effects by modifying the mechanisms of epigenetic gene regulation. There are 4 epigenetic modifications that can take place: ROS generated by ionizing radiation chemically modify histones which can cause a change in transcription. Oxidation of cellular lipid components result in an electrophilic molecule formation. The electrophilic molecule binds to the lysine residues of histones causing a ketoamide adduct formation.