Use of human lymphocyte G0 PCCs to detect intra- and inter-chromosomal aberrations for early radiation biodosimetry and retrospective assessment of radiation-induced effects

A sensitive biodosimetry tool is required for rapid individualized dose estimation and risk assessment in the case of radiological or nuclear mass casualty scenarios to prioritize exposed humans for immediate medical countermeasures to reduce radiation related injuries or morbidity risks. Unlike the conventional Dicentric Chromosome Assay (DCA), which takes about 3–4 days for radiation dose estimation, cell fusion mediated Premature Chromosome Condensation (PCC) technique in G0 lymphocytes can be rapidly performed for radiation dose assessment within 6–8 hrs of sample receipt by alleviating the need for ex vivo lymphocyte proliferation for 48 hrs. Despite this advantage, the PCC technique has not yet been fully exploited for radiation biodosimetry. Realizing the advantage of G0 PCC technique that can be instantaneously applied to unstimulated lymphocytes, we evaluated the utility of G0 PCC technique in detecting ionizing radiation (IR) induced stable and unstable chromosomal aberrations for biodosimetry purposes. Our study demonstrates that PCC coupled with mFISH and mBAND techniques can efficiently detect both numerical and structural chromosome aberrations at the intra- and inter-chromosomal levels in unstimulated T- and B-lymphocytes. Collectively, we demonstrate that the G0 PCC technique has the potential for development as a biodosimetry tool for detecting unstable chromosome aberrations (chromosome fragments and dicentric chromosomes) for early radiation dose estimation and stable chromosome exchange events (translocations) for retrospective monitoring of individualized health risks in unstimulated lymphocytes.