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Research Article

Gene expression signatures of radiation exposure in peripheral white blood cells of smokers and non-smokers

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Pages 791-801 | Received 31 Aug 2010, Accepted 25 Feb 2011, Published online: 01 Aug 2011
 

Abstract

Purpose: The issue of potential confounding factors is critical to the development of any approach to radiation biodosimetry, and has not been fully addressed for gene expression-based approaches.

Materials and methods: As a step in this direction, we have investigated the effect of smoking on the global radiation gene expression response in ex vivo-irradiated peripheral blood cells using microarray analysis. We also evaluated the ability of gene expression signatures to predict the radiation exposure level of ex vivo-exposed samples from smokers and non-smokers of both genders.

Results: We identified eight genes with a radiation response that was significantly affected by smoking status, and confirmed an effect of smoking on the radiation response of the four and a half LIM domains 2 (FHL2) gene using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The performance of our previously defined 74-gene signature in predicting the radiation dose to samples in this study was unaffected by differences in gender or smoking status, however, giving 98% correct prediction of dose category. This is the same accuracy as that found in the original study from which the signature was derived, using different donors.

Conclusion: The results support the development of peripheral blood gene expression as a viable strategy for radiation biodosimetry.

Acknowledgements

We thank the nursing staff of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Columbia University Medical Center for drawing blood from our volunteers. Analyses were performed using BRB-ArrayTools developed by Dr Richard Simon and Amy Peng Lam. This work was supported by the Center for High-Throughput Minimally-Invasive Radiation Biodosimetry, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, grant No. U19 AI067773.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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