{"entity":{"id":"paper-favaudon-flash-mice-sci-transl-med-2014","kind":"paper","name":"Ultrahigh dose-rate FLASH irradiation increases the differential response between normal and tumor tissue in mice","aka":[],"tldr":"The mouse study that started modern FLASH research. Radiation given in a fraction of a second spared the lungs of mice from scarring at doses that scarred them when given at the usual rate, while controlling tumours just as well. It was in mice, and the effect in people has not been shown.","summary":"Favaudon and colleagues irradiated mice either with short pulses at 40 Gy per second or more (FLASH) or at the conventional 0.03 Gy per second or less, in single doses. Conventional irradiation at 15 Gy caused lung fibrosis with activation of the TGF-beta cascade, whereas no complications developed after FLASH doses below 20 Gy for more than 36 weeks. FLASH also spared normal smooth muscle and epithelial cells from acute radiation-induced apoptosis. In human tumour xenografts and orthotopic mouse lung tumours, FLASH was as effective as conventional irradiation at repressing tumour growth.","asOf":"2026-10-20","links":[{"label":"Science Translational Medicine 2014","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.3008973"},{"label":"PubMed 25031268","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25031268/"}],"tags":["precision","radiation"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["radiation"],"technologies":["flash-rt","flash-research-accelerators"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["science-translational-medicine"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Science Translational Medicine","year":2014,"doi":"10.1126/scitranslmed.3008973","pmid":"25031268","authors":"Favaudon V, Caplier L, Monceau V, et al.","paperType":"basic","findings":["Conventional-rate 15 Gy caused lung fibrosis in mice; FLASH below 20 Gy caused no complications for more than 36 weeks.","FLASH was as efficient as conventional irradiation at repressing tumour growth."],"whatItMeans":"The reason FLASH is being developed. Whether the sparing seen in mice happens in people, at which doses and in which tissues, is the open question that the first human trials have not yet answered.","caveats":["Mice and single large doses; human radiotherapy is usually given in many smaller fractions.","The mechanism remains debated."]},"route":"/key-papers/paper-favaudon-flash-mice-sci-transl-med-2014/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"radiation","kind":"section","name":"Radiation Therapy","route":"/fronts/radiation/"}],"technology":[{"id":"flash-rt","kind":"technology","name":"FLASH radiotherapy","route":"/technologies/flash-rt/"},{"id":"flash-research-accelerators","kind":"technology","name":"FLASH research accelerators (Oriatron, Mobetron FLASH, ProBeam FLASH)","route":"/technologies/flash-research-accelerators/"}],"journal":[{"id":"science-translational-medicine","kind":"journal","name":"Science Translational Medicine","route":"/journals/science-translational-medicine/"}]}}