Summary
Skin and blood samples were obtained from 34 donors, for whom there was no indication of abnormal radiosensitivity. From these, in 33 cases both fibroblast and T-lymphocyte cultures were obtained and in 26 cases at least three fibroblast and at least two G0 (resting) T-lymphocyte survival assays were possible. Within this set of results, differences in radiosensitivity between donors were significant for fibroblasts but not T-lymphocytes, although the range of radiosensitivity was similar for the two cell types (D¯ 0·90–1·68 Gy for fibroblasts; 1·26–2·15 Gy for T-lymphocytes). Furthermore, there was little evidence for a correlation in radiosensitivity between the two cell types. These results suggest limitations in the predictive value of conventional measurement of cell survival.