Elevated frequency of glycophorin A mutations in erythrocytes from Chernobyl accident victims

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1995 · Radiation Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/3579040· OSTI ID:68615

Jensen, R H ^[1]; Langlois, R G ^[2]; Bigbee, W L; Grant, S G ^[3]; Moore, D II ^[4]; Pilinskaya, M ^[5]; Vorobtsova, I ^[6]; Pleshanov, P ^[7]

---

1. Univ. of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
3. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
4. Geraldine Bush Cancer Research Institute, San Francisco, CA (United States)
5. Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Kiev (Ukraine)
6. Central Research Institute for Roentgenology and Radiology, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)
7. Ministry of Health, Moscow (Russian Federation)

In 1986, when an explosion accident occurred at the Chernobyl, Ukraine nuclear power plant, a large number of people were exposed to significant amounts of ionizing radiation. During the time between 1986 and 1992, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 102 people who either were on site during the emergency or were brought to Chernobyl shortly thereafter to assist in the cleanup of radioactive contaminants and isolate the damaged reactor from the environment. These blood samples plus samples from 13 unexposed Soviet individuals were analyzed by flow cytometry using the allele-loss somatic mutation assay for glycophorin A. Results of these assays show that the frequency of N/{O} variant red cells increased in proportion to the estimated radiation exposure of each individual. The radiation dose-response function derived from this population closely resembles that determined previously for atomic bomb survivors whose blood samples were obtained and analyzed 40 years after their exposure. This suggests comparable mutation induction per unit dose for these two populations and long-term persistence of the mutational damage. In addition, measurements on multiple blood samples from each of 10 donors taken over a 7-year period showed no significant changes in N/{O} variant cell frequencies, confirming the persistence of radiation-induced somatic mutations in long-lived bone marrow stem cells. 19 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 68615
• Journal Information: Radiation Research, Vol. 141, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
BLOOD
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ERYTHROCYTES
RADIATION INDUCED MUTANTS
STEM CELLS
SOMATIC MUTATIONS
CHERNOBYLSK-4 REACTOR
RADIATION ACCIDENTS
RADIATION DOSES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
BONE MARROW
UKRAINE
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE