Aleksandra Fucic1, Stefano Bonassi2, Sarolta Gundy3, Juozas Lazutka4, Radim Sram5, Marcello Ceppi6, Joe N Lucas7. 1. Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia afucic@imi.hr. 2. Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy. 3. National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary. 4. Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. 5. Institute of Experimental Medicine AS CR, Prague, Czech Republic. 6. IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST, Genoa, Italy. 7. University of California, Emeritus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, U.S.A.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: Biomonitoring is currently applied in the estimation of health risks after overexposure to ionizing radiation (IR). The aim of this study was to compare the association of dicentric chromosomes and acentric fragments (AF) with cancer risk in subjects exposed to IR, as well as in control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was performed on 3,574 subjects (2,030 subjects exposed to IR and 1,544 control subjects). The mean follow-up period was 8 years. RESULTS: In subjects reporting exposure to IR, the presence of AFs and dicentric chromosomes was associated with a significant increase in cancer risk, hazard ratio (HR)=1.78 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-3.13) and HR=1.73 (95% CI=1.03-2.90), respectively. CONCLUSION: AFs are associated with cancer risk and have a similar sensitivity to dicentric chromosomes in subjects exposed to IR. Because automated AF scoring can be easily introduced using fast flow cytometry combined with the pan-centromere staining, this biomarker may hold promise as a potential sensitive biomarker of exposure to IR and cancer risk. Copyright
BACKGROUND/AIM: Biomonitoring is currently applied in the estimation of health risks after overexposure to ionizing radiation (IR). The aim of this study was to compare the association of dicentric chromosomes and acentric fragments (AF) with cancer risk in subjects exposed to IR, as well as in control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was performed on 3,574 subjects (2,030 subjects exposed to IR and 1,544 control subjects). The mean follow-up period was 8 years. RESULTS: In subjects reporting exposure to IR, the presence of AFs and dicentric chromosomes was associated with a significant increase in cancer risk, hazard ratio (HR)=1.78 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-3.13) and HR=1.73 (95% CI=1.03-2.90), respectively. CONCLUSION: AFs are associated with cancer risk and have a similar sensitivity to dicentric chromosomes in subjects exposed to IR. Because automated AF scoring can be easily introduced using fast flow cytometry combined with the pan-centromere staining, this biomarker may hold promise as a potential sensitive biomarker of exposure to IR and cancer risk. Copyright