A hierarchical Bayesian approach to calibrating the linear-quadratic model from clonogenic survival assay data

摘要

We propose a Bayesian hierarchical model applicable to the calibration of the linear-quadratic model of radiation dose response. Experimental data used in model calibration were taken from a clonogenic survival assay conducted on human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) across a range of radiation doses (0-6 Gy). Employing Markov-chain Monte Carlo methods, we calibrated the proposed Bayesian hierarchical model, computed posterior distributions for the model parameters and survival fraction dose response probability densities. Key contributions include the proposal of a model that incorporates multiple sources of inter- and intra-experiment variability commonly neglected in the standard frequentist approach and its subsequent application to in vitro experimental data. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.