Faculty Collaboration Database

Diagnosis of partial body radiation exposure in mice using peripheral blood gene expression profiles. PLoS One 2010 Jul 12;5(7):e11535

Date

07/17/2010

Pubmed ID

20634956

Pubmed Central ID

PMC2902517

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0011535

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77955375162   42 Citations

Abstract

In the event of a terrorist-mediated attack in the United States using radiological or improvised nuclear weapons, it is expected that hundreds of thousands of people could be exposed to life-threatening levels of ionizing radiation. We have recently shown that genome-wide expression analysis of the peripheral blood (PB) can generate gene expression profiles that can predict radiation exposure and distinguish the dose level of exposure following total body irradiation (TBI). However, in the event a radiation-mass casualty scenario, many victims will have heterogeneous exposure due to partial shielding and it is unknown whether PB gene expression profiles would be useful in predicting the status of partially irradiated individuals. Here, we identified gene expression profiles in the PB that were characteristic of anterior hemibody-, posterior hemibody- and single limb-irradiation at 0.5 Gy, 2 Gy and 10 Gy in C57Bl6 mice. These PB signatures predicted the radiation status of partially irradiated mice with a high level of accuracy (range 79-100%) compared to non-irradiated mice. Interestingly, PB signatures of partial body irradiation were poorly predictive of radiation status by site of injury (range 16-43%), suggesting that the PB molecular response to partial body irradiation was anatomic site specific. Importantly, PB gene signatures generated from TBI-treated mice failed completely to predict the radiation status of partially irradiated animals or non-irradiated controls. These data demonstrate that partial body irradiation, even to a single limb, generates a characteristic PB signature of radiation injury and thus may necessitate the use of multiple signatures, both partial body and total body, to accurately assess the status of an individual exposed to radiation.

Author List

Meadows SK, Dressman HK, Daher P, Himburg H, Russell JL, Doan P, Chao NJ, Lucas J, Nevins JR, Chute JP

Author

Heather A. Himburg PhD Associate Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Female
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Radiation Injuries, Experimental
Radiation, Ionizing
Whole-Body Irradiation