Cytogenetic Biomarkers of Radiation Exposure

Abstract

The keywords 'radiation exposure', 'chromosomal biomarker', 'chromosomal signature', and 'complex chromosome aberrations' were used to search Web of Science and Scopus for peer-reviewed articles.

Chromosome Aberrations in Lymphocytes of Patients Undergoing Radon Spa Therapy: An Explorative mFISH Study

“…In a recent experiment, where lymphocytes of a healthy donor (HD1) were exposed in vitro to alpha particles, we showed that complex aberrations were the most abundant aberration type induced [21], as was expected for high-LET radiation [19]. However, in the present study, no "fingerprint" for high-LET exposure was found in vivo.…”

“…Moreover, the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes is a predictor of human cancer risk [16] and can be used for biodosimetry after a suspected exposure to ionizing radiation [17]. Application of the elaborate mFISH method allowed us to complete a detailed analysis of complex aberrations, which are considered as biomarkers for exposure to densely ionizing (high LET) radiation such as alpha particles [19]. This technique is highly sensitive as all human chromosome pairs are simultaneously labelled by 24 different combinations of fluorescent colors (e.g., [31]).…”

“…Presently, the dicentric chromosome assay is the gold standard for biological dosimetry, especially after a mass causality event [17,18]. However, standard staining techniques applied to detect dicentric chromosomes are unsuitable to uncover complex aberrations, which are a fingerprint of densely ionizing (high linear energy transfer, LET) radiation, including alpha particles (overview in [19]). To visualize this specific aberration type, a high-resolution staining technique such as multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization (mFISH) has to be applied.…”

Catalase T-Deficient Fission Yeast Meiocytes Show Resistance to Ionizing Radiation

“…In most organisms, meiotic homolog search is driven by chromosome movements in prophase I in the presence of meiotic DSBs (reviewed in [11,12]). Besides physiological meiotic DSBs, exogenous DSBs (e.g., those resulting from IR) can be toxic, since their (mis)repair may lead to non-homologous or ectopic exchange events involving, at the chromosomal level, translocations and the formation of dicentric and acentric chromosome fragments [13][14][15][16]. Chromosome mobility in the first meiotic prophase is dependent on the cytoskeleton, either on microtubules (S. pombe [17]; mouse [18,19]) or actin (Saccharomyces cerevisiae [20]).…”

Hot Topics in Radiobiology

“…The review by Anderson [6] of cytogenetic markers of radiation exposure is excellent and clearly has a wide application is assessing the effects of radiation exposure, such as following the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima. We wonder if the evaluation of residual chromosome damage in peripheral lymphocytes could have a wider application to elucidate the potential carcinogenetic effects of repeated radiological examinations, including those having multiple computed tomography scans, such as patients with stage I testicular cancer.…”