Fig. 1. Biological mechanism of ionizing radiation (IR) in radiation therapy. IR induces direct action or indirect action to kill cancer cells. For direct action, IR induces a single strand break (SSB) or double strand break (DSB) of DNA in nuclei. For indirect action, IR induces the production of reactive oxygen species causing cellular stress ultimately changing the cell signaling pathway. Adapted from the article of Gong L et al. (Int J Nanomedicine 2021;16:1083-102) [
6].
