Abstract
Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array, we explored and compared the expression changes of inflammation-related genes in human peripheral blood irradiated with 0.5, 3, and 10 Gy doses of X-rays 24 h after exposure. Results indicated that the expression of 62 out of 84 genes was significantly altered after X-ray radiation. Among these 62 genes, 35 (such as TNFSF4) are known to be associated with radiation response, but others are novel. At a low radiation dose (0.5 Gy), 9 genes were up-regulated and 19 were down-regulated. With further increased dose to 3 Gy, 8 unique genes were up-regulated and 19 genes were down-regulated. We also identified 48 different genes that were differentially expressed significantly after 10 Gy of irradiation, and among these transcripts, up-regulated genes accounted for only one-third (16 genes) of the total. Of the 62 genes, 31 were significantly altered only at a specific dose, and a total of 10 genes were significantly expressed at all 3 doses. The dose- and time-dependent expression of CCL2 was confirmed by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR. A number of candidate genes reported herein may be useful molecular biomarkers of radiation exposure in human peripheral blood.
Highlights
Exposure to ionizing radiation—whether for medical, occupational, or accidental reasons—may cause deleterious biological consequences, such as mortality or carcinogenesis
Two independent Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) array analyses were carried out for each radiation dose after the in vitro reverse transcription reaction of RNA extracted from human peripheral blood cells
It was found that CCL2 mRNA was up-regulated in tumor cell lines (SCC-4, SCF-7, IOMM Lee, SF-3061, or A549) receiving X-ray or γ-ray irradiation [50,51,70,71]
Summary
Exposure to ionizing radiation—whether for medical, occupational, or accidental reasons—may cause deleterious biological consequences, such as mortality or carcinogenesis. The metaphase chromosomal aberration assay in human lymphocytes remains as the gold standard for assessing radiation dosimetry, and no functional equivalent has been found. This assay is labor intensive, requires mitotic cells, lacks specificity at very low and high doses, and requires skilled individuals [1,2]. Ionizing radiation-induced RNA-based gene expression change is the focus of a new generation of research on radiation biodosimetry [4]. RNA-based assays mainly include global expression platforms such as DNA microarray and expression assessment by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).
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