Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 22, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22147504
Keywords
systematic review; meta-analysis; medical workers; ionizing radiation; cytogenetic biomarkers; DNA integrity
Funding
- IRSN
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This review focused on the genotoxicity biomarkers that are significantly elevated in health workers exposed to ionizing radiation compared to unexposed workers. The study found that chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) frequencies were significantly different between the two groups, along with other endpoints like stable translocations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and comet assay endpoints. Further studies are needed to validate the usefulness of these biomarkers in future epidemiological studies.
Medical staff represent the largest group of workers occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation (IR). Chronic exposure to low-dose IR may result in DNA damage and genotoxicity associated with increased risk of cancer. This review aims to identify the genotoxicity biomarkers that are the most elevated in IR-exposed vs. unexposed health workers. A systematic review of the literature was performed to retrieve relevant studies with various biomarkers of genotoxicity. Subsequent meta-analyses produced a pooled effect size for several endpoints. The search procedure yielded 65 studies. Chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) frequencies were significantly different between IR-exposed and unexposed workers (theta(pooled) = 3.19, 95% CI 1.46-4.93; and theta(pooled) = 1.41, 95% CI 0.97-1.86, for total aberrant cells and MN frequencies, respectively), which was not the case for ring chromosomes and nucleoplasmic bridges. Although less frequently used, stable translocations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and comet assay endpoints were also statistically different between IR-exposed and unexposed workers. This review confirms the relevance of CA and MN as genotoxicity biomarkers that are consistently elevated in IR-exposed vs. unexposed workers. Other endpoints are strong candidates but require further studies to validate their usefulness. The integration of the identified biomarkers in future prospective epidemiological studies is encouraged.
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