Ionizing radiation induced genomic instability and bystander effects

In past decade, the researches on genomic instability and bystander effects have become a hotspot of biology and radiobiology. With further researches on radiation damage, non-targeted effects (such as genomic instability and bystander effects) induced by ionizing irradiation will pose new challenges to evaluating risk (s) associated with radiation exposure. This article makes a brief outline on radiation-induced genomic instability in vivo and in vitro, bystander effects in vivo and in vitro, and the relationship between genomic instability and bystander effects. (authors)