HighlightsThe accuracy of biophysical modeling is crucial for particle therapy.Comparison of LEM(I-IV), MKM and NanOx models with data for 3 cell lines. χ2 scoring for α(LET) curves. NanOx yields the highest score more often than the other models.AbstractThe relative biological effectiveness (RBE) in particle therapy is currently estimated using biophysical models. We compared experimental measurements to the α curves as function of linear energy transfer computed by the Local Effect Model (LEM I-IV), the Microdosimetric Kinetic Model (MKM) and the NanOx model for HSG, V79 and CHO-K1 cells in response to monoenergetic irradiations. Although the LEM IV and the MKM predictions accurately reproduced the trend observed in the data, NanOx yielded a better agreement than the other models for more irradiation configurations. Itsestimator was indeed the lowest for three over seven considered cases.