RENEB intercomparison exercises analyzing micronuclei (Cytokinesis-block Micronucleus Assay)

Abstract

Purpose: In the framework of the 'Realizing the European Network of Biodosimetry' (RENEB) project, two intercomparison exercises were conducted to assess the suitability of an optimized version of the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay, and to evaluate the capacity of a large laboratory network performing biodosimetry for radiation emergency triages. Twelve European institutions participated in the first exercise, and four non-RENEB labs were added in the second one. Materials and methods: Irradiated blood samples were shipped to participating labs, whose task was to culture these samples and provide a blind dose estimate. Micronucleus analysis was performed by automated, semi-automated and manual procedures. Results: The dose estimates provided by network laboratories were in good agreement with true administered doses. The most accurate estimates were reported for low dose points ( 0.94 Gy). For higher dose points (! 2.7 Gy) a larger variation in estimates was observed, though in the second exercise the number of acceptable estimates increased satisfactorily. Higher accuracy was achieved with the semi-automated method. Conclusion: The results of the two exercises performed by our network demonstrate that the micronucleus assay is a useful tool for large-scale radiation emergencies, and can be successfully implemented within a large network of laboratories. ARTICLE HISTORY

A new approach to automated CBMN scoring following high doses

“…Many labs use semi-automated imaging to perform the micronucleus assay (11) . Briefly, an automated microscope acquires images of cells from a slide and classifies them into binucleated cells and binucleated cells with 1 or more micronuclei, providing a gallery of images of candidate cells.…”

Uncertainty of fast biological radiation dose assessment for emergency response scenarios

“…emergency response readiness (Kulka et al 2016). The RENEB 'toolkit' contains a number of assays, including the four assessed in this paper -further details of which can be found in Oestreicher et al (2016) for the dicentric assay; Depuydt et al (2016) for the micronucleus assay; Moquet et al (2016) for the gamma-H2AX assay and Terzoudi et al (2016) for the PCC assay. The results of the most recent RENEB table-top exercise demonstrated a very good agreement between laboratories, with a mean categorization accuracy (defined as the number of triage categorization answers which were the same as the default values, divided by the number of all answers) of 95% throughout the entire exercise (Brzozowska et al 2016).…”

RENEB accident simulation exercise

“…The first five assays rely on analysing peripheral blood lymphocytes and the last two assays on analysing components of personal electronic devices (PED), such as smartphones. The assays are described elsewhere Barquinero et al 2016;Depuydt et al 2016;Moquet et al 2016;Terzoudi et al 2016;Trompier et al 2016). An example of a dosimetric data set for 10 patients and the correct triage classification is shown in Table 1.…”