Delayed effects of low-dose radiation on cellular immunity in atomic bomb survivors residing in the United States.

Several parameters of cellular immune function were assessed among persons who survived the 1945 atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but who now reside in the United States. The subjects in this study were exposed to various low doses (T65D) of radiation at the time of the bomb. More than half received an estimated 0 Gy (S0 group). Of those exposed to more radiation (S+ group), nearly 90% received less than 0.50 Gy (50 rad). Lymphocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood of these individuals and were assessed for the following parameters of cellular immunity: mitogenic response to phytohemagglutinin, mitogenic response to allogeneic lymphocytes, natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity (NCMC), and interferon production. In every case, the response of the S+ group was greater than that of the S0 group, although only the difference for NCMC was statistically significant. Results of studies presently being performed on A-bomb survivors residing in Hiroshima do not confirm this difference. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether the increase in natural cytotoxicity observed among the American and not the Japanese A-bomb survivors exposed to very low doses of radiation is a hormetic effect which was modulated by post-radiation environmental conditions or a result of selective migration.