Long-Term Biodosimetry Redux

Abstract

This paper revisits and reiterates the needs, purposes and requirements of biodosimetric assays for long-term dose and health risk assessments. While the most crucial need for biodosimetric assays is to guide medical response for radiation accidents, the value of such techniques for improving our understanding of radiation health risk by supporting epidemiological (longterm health risk) studies is significant. As new cohorts of exposed persons are identified and new health risk studies are undertaken with the hopes that studying the exposed will result in a deeper understanding of radiation risk, the value of reliable dose reconstruction is underscored. The ultimate application of biodosimetry in long-term health risk studies would be to completely replace model-based dose reconstruction-a complex suite of methods for retrospectively estimating dose that is commonly fraught with large uncertainties due to the absence of important exposure-related information, as well as imperfect models. While biodosimetry could potentially supplant model-based doses, there are numerous limitations of presently available techniques that constrain their widespread application in health risk research, including limited ability to assess doses received far in the past, high cost, great inter-individual variability, invasiveness, higher than preferred detection limits and the inability to assess internal dose (for the most part). These limitations prevent the extensive application of biodosimetry to large cohorts and should be considered a challenge to researchers to develop new and more flexible techniques that meet the demands of long-term health risk research. Events in recent years, e.g. the Fukushima reactor accident and the increased threat of nuclear terrorism, underscore that any event that results in significant radiation exposures of a group of people will also produce a much larger population, exposed at lower levels, but that likewise needs (or demands) an exposure assessment. Hence, the needs for retrospective dose estimation are likely to be greater in the future. The value of biodosimetry can be considerably enhanced with the development of new or improved methods, particularly with suitability for application at long periods of time after exposure.

Chromosome Translocations, Inversions and Telomere Length for Retrospective Biodosimetry on Exposed U.S. Atomic Veterans

“…Moreover, we conclude that these techniques may be useful in other radiation scenarios, e.g., those that might occur today or in the future involving accidental or intentional exposures. This research responds to the challenge set forth by Simon and Bouville (53) for the development and improvement of methods that can be used at long times after radiation exposure. Additional experience in applying these and similar techniques will undoubtedly improve our capability to more reliably estimate past exposures.…”

Identification of Potential Biomarkers of Radiation Exposure in Blood Cells by Capillary Electrophoresis Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

“…Biodosimetry is a useful tool for estimating personal exposure doses [2]. While the primary objective of biodosimetry is to guide medical intervention following exposure to radiation, the value of this technique extends to supporting epidemiological studies of long-term health risks [3]. Numerous biodosimetric markers have been reported, such as chromosomal aberrations [4], DNA damage [5], free radicals [6], and dysregulation of gene expression [7], antioxidant production [8], and metabolites [9].…”