The term radiogenomics is used in two contexts: either to refer to the study of genetic variation associated with response to radiation (radiation genomics) or to refer to the correlation between cancer imaging features and gene expression (imaging genomics).
Genetic variation, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms, is studied in relation to a cancer patient's risk of developing toxicity following radiation therapy.
[4][5] The term radiogenomics was coined in 2002 by Andreassen et al. (2002)[6] as an analogy to pharmacogenomics, which studies the genetic variation associated with drug responses.
[8] In 2009,[9][10] a Radiogenomics Consortium (RGC) was established to facilitate and promote multi-centre collaboration of researchers linking genetic variants with response to radiation therapy.
[11] RGC researchers have completed numerous clinical studies that identified genetic variants associated with radiation toxicities in patients with prostate, breast, lung, head and neck, and other cancers.