Study of primary and secondary low-energy electron impacts on atomistic DNA strand breaks using Monte Carlo simulations

Our results show good agreement with experimental results in its global SSB and DSB, and our simulation accurately distinguished the breaks based on the type of interactions and the energy of the incident electrons. However, the absolute yields and the relative contribution of the different interaction types remain dependent on the modeled DNA geometry and irradiation conditions. Such a simulation reports DNA radiosensitivity at the atomic level and significantly contributes to the selection of radiopharmaceuticals targeting tumor cell nuclei such as those incorporating Auger electron emitters which are more effective than alpha and beta emitters.