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World J Radiol. Sep 28, 2015; 7(9): 266-278
Published online Sep 28, 2015. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v7.i9.266
Radiation signature on exposed cells: Relevance in dose estimation
Venkatachalam Perumal, Tamizh Selvan Gnana Sekaran, Venkateswarlu Raavi, Safa Abdul Syed Basheerudeen, Karthik Kanagaraj, Amith Roy Chowdhury, Solomon FD Paul
Venkatachalam Perumal, Tamizh Selvan Gnana Sekaran, Venkateswarlu Raavi, Safa Abdul Syed Basheerudeen, Karthik Kanagaraj, Amith Roy Chowdhury, Solomon FD Paul, Department of Human Genetics, College of Biomedical Sciences, Technology and Research, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai 600 116, India
Author contributions: Perumal V made the concept and manuscript preparation; Gnana Sekaran TS, Raavi V, Basheerudeen SAS, Kanagaraj K and Chowdhury AR contributed for review of literature on dicentric assay, micronucleus assay; FISH assay and γ-H2AX assay; Paul SFD provided the expert opinion and made the final editing.
Supported by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, No. SR-SO/HS-127/2012; Defence Research and Development Organisation, Government of India, No. DLS/81/48222/LSRB-261; and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India (AERB/CSRP/Proj. No.58/04/2014).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Venkatachalam Perumal, PhD, Professor, Department of Human Genetics, College of Biomedical Sciences, Technology and Research, Sri Ramachandra University, No.1, Ramachandra Nagar Porur, Chennai 600 116, India. venkip@yahoo.com
Telephone: +91-44-24768027 Fax: +91-44-24767008
Received: May 25, 2015
Peer-review started: May 27, 2015
First decision: June 18, 2015
Revised: July 3, 2015
Accepted: July 29, 2015
Article in press: August 3, 2015
Published online: September 28, 2015
Processing time: 140 Days and 22.8 Hours
Abstract

The radiation is considered as a double edged sword, as its beneficial and detrimental effects have been demonstrated. The potential benefits are being exploited to its maximum by adopting safe handling of radionuclide stipulated by the regulatory agencies. While the occupational workers are monitored by personnel monitoring devices, for general publics, it is not a regular practice. However, it can be achieved by using biomarkers with a potential for the radiation triage and medical management. An ideal biomarker to adopt in those situations should be rapid, specific, sensitive, reproducible, and able to categorize the nature of exposure and could provide a reliable dose estimation irrespective of the time of the exposures. Since cytogenetic markers shown to have many advantages relatively than other markers, the origins of various chromosomal abnormalities induced by ionizing radiations along with dose-response curves generated in the laboratory are presented. Current status of the gold standard dicentric chromosome assay, micronucleus assay, translocation measurement by fluorescence in-situ hybridization and an emerging protein marker the γ-H2AX assay are discussed with our laboratory data. With the wide choice of methods, an appropriate assay can be employed based on the net.

Keywords: Biomarker; Dicentric chromosomes; Micronucleus; Fluorescence in-situ hybridization

Core tip: Of the well-established biomarker, the dicentric chromosome assay remains a gold standard, with sensitivity and specificity to radiation. In contrast, micronucleus is simple, rapid and potential for triage, though the sensitivity is less and not able to differentiate the partial body exposure from that of whole body exposure. The expensive fluorescence in-situ hybridization has the advantage that it can be employed in chronic and retrospective dose estimation. The γ-H2AX assay has a potential for triage despite the fact of limited stability. To conclude none of the assay could fulfil all the criteria of an ideal biomarker.