Assessing the applicability of FISH-based prematurely condensed dicentric chromosome assay in triage biodosimetry.

The dicentric chromosome assay (DCA) has been regarded as the gold standard of radiation biodosimetry. The assay, however, requires a 2-d peripheral blood lymphocyte culture before starting metaphase chromosome analyses to estimate biological doses. Other biological assays also have drawbacks with respect to the time needed to obtain dose estimates for rapid decision on the correct line of medical treatment. Therefore, alternative technologies that suit requirements for triage biodosimetry are needed. Radiation-induced DNA double strand breaks in G0 lymphocytes can be detected as interphase chromosome aberrations by the cell fusion-mediated premature chromosome condensation (PCC) method. The method, in combination with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques, has been proposed in early studies as a powerful tool for obtaining biological dose estimates without 2-d lymphocyte culture procedures. The present work assesses the applicability of FISH-based PCC techniques using pan-centromeric and telomeric peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes in triage mode biodosimetry and demonstrates that an improved rapid procedure of the prematurely condensed dicentric chromosome (PCDC) assay has the potential for evaluating exposed radiation doses in as short as 6 h after the collection of peripheral blood specimens.