Candidate gene biodosimeters of mice and human exposure to ionizing radiation by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

Understanding of cellular responses to ionizing radiation (IR) is essential for the development of predictive markers useful for assessing human exposure. Biological markers of exposure to IR in human populations are of great interest for assessing normal tissue injury in radiation oncology and for biodosimetry in nuclear incidents and accidental radiation exposures. Traditional radiation exposure biomarkers based on cytogenetic assays (biodosimetry), are time-consuming and do not provide results fast enough and requires highly trained personnel for scoring. Hence, the development of rapid biodosimetry methods is one of the highest priorities. Exposure of cells to IR activates multiple signal transduction pathways, which result in complex alterations in gene-expression. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) has become the benchmark for the detection and quantification of RNA targets and is being utilized increasingly in monitoring the specific genes with more accurately and sensitively. This review evaluates the RT-qPCR as a biodosimetry method and we investigated the papers from 2000 up to now, which identified the genes-expression related the DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoint, and apoptosis induced by ionization radiation in peripheral blood and determined as biodosimeters. In conclusion, it could be say that RT-qPCR technique for determining the specific genes as biodosimeters could be a fully quantitative reliable and sensitive method. Furthermore, the results of the current review will help the researchers to recognize the most expressed genes induced by ionization radiation.