The hunt for radiation biomarkers: current situation

Abstract

Purpose: The possibility of a large-scale acute radiation exposure necessitates the development of new methods that could provide a rapid assessment of the doses received by individuals using high-throughput technologies. There is also a great interest in developing new biomarkers of dose exposure, which could be used in large molecular epidemiological studies in order to correlate estimated doses received and health effects. The goal of this review was to summarize current literature focused on biological dosimetry, namely radiation-responsive biomarkers.

Methods: The studies involved in this review were thoroughly selected according to the determined criteria and PRISMA guidelines.

Results: We described briefly recent advances in radiation genomics and metabolomics, giving particular emphasis to proteomic analysis. The majority of studies were performed on animal models (rats, mice, and non-human primates). They have provided much beneficial information, but the most relevant tests have been done on human (oncological) patients. By inspecting the radiaiton biodosimetry literate of the last 10 years, we identified a panel of candidate markers for each –omic approach involved.

Conslusions: We reviewed different methodological approaches and various biological materials, which can be exploited for dose-effect prediction. The protein biomarkers from human plasma are ideal for this specific purpose. From a plethora of candidate markers, FDXR is a very promising transcriptomic candidate, and importantly this biomarker was also confirmed by some studies at protein level in humans.

Keywords:

• Radiation protection
• biomarker
• proteomics
• metabolomics
• biodosimetry

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Ian McColl for proof reading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic (Long-term organization development plan 1011) and Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth (Specific research project 2106 - University of Hradec Kralove).

Notes on contributors

Gabriela Kultova

Gabriela Kultova, MSc, is a PhD student at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec, Kralove, Czech Republic.

Ales Tichy

Ales Tichy, PharmD, PhD, is an Associate Professor (Docent) of Radiobiology at the Department of Radiobiology, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, Hradec Kralove, University of Defense, Brno, Czech Republic.

Helena Rehulkova

Helena Rehulkova, PhD. is a Postdoc at the Department of Radiobiology, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, Hradec Kralove, University of Defense, Brno, Czech Republic.

Alena Myslivcova-Fucikova

Alena Myslivcova-Fucikova, PhD. is a Postdoc at the Department of Radiobiology, Faculty of Militatry Health Sciences, Hradec Kralove, University of Defense, Brno, Czech Republic.