Biological Effects of Accelerated Protons

Radiobiological studies with proton beams started in the first half of the last century, when the scientific community could profit of the Lawrence idea to accelerate protons. It became soon clear that such a radiation could be favourably used in clinical applications. Since then, the biological effects of protons have been deeply investigated, in a wide energy range and several biological end-points have been studied. Nowadays a partially overlapping research field is expanding aiming at radioprotection of astronauts, a major concern because long-term manned space missions are foreseen. In the present work the leading results of the most recent published data on proton radiobiology are reviewed.