Glycophorin A mutation and relevant factors in medical radiation workers / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective To explore the feasibility of using glycophorin A somatic mutation in peripheral erythrocytes,in order to evaluate the cancer risk of occupational medical exposure to ionizing radiation.Methods Totally 336 medical radiation workers were recruited as three groups (general radiation group,computer tomography group,intervention and radiation treatment group) and 112 healthy adults were selected as control by using stratified random cluster sampling method,where 176 medicalradiation workers and 58 health controls had a MN-heterozygous type.The erythrocytes were fixed and bound with fluorescent-labeled monoclonal antibody,and the glycophorin A somatic mutation frequency was assayed by a modified BR6-1W1 method using a FACScan flow cytometer.The individual susceptibility to radiation was investigated using micronuclei test and 3-Aminobenzamide index test.Results The GPA somatic mutation frequency of medical-radiation workers was significantly higher than that of healthy control ( t =2.29 - 11.48,P ＜ 0.05 ).In particular,the NO GPA aberration frequency of interventional radiology workers was much higher than that of the general medical diagnostic workers (t =2.01,P ＜ 0.05).In addition,the NO GPA variant frequency changed significantly with the years of radiation service,cumulative doses,and 3AB index.However,the NN GPA variant frequency was only associated with the years of radiation service,and no significant correlations were found between NN GPA variant frequency and cumulative dose of radiation exposure or 3AB index. Conclusions GPA mutation frequency,especially NO GPA mutation frequency could be used as a sensitive biomarker to predict the DNA damage and individual susceptibility for the population exposed to professional low-dose ionizing radiation.

Assessment of the Glycophorin A Mutant Assay as a Biologic Marker for Low Dose Radiation Exposure / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To assess the availability of the glycophorin A (GPA) assay to detect the biological effect of ionizing radiation in workers exposed to low-doses of radiation. METHODS: Information on confounding factors, such as age and cigarette smoking was obtained on 144 nuclear power plant workers and 32 hospital workers, by a self-administered questionnaire. Information on physical exposure levels was obtained from the registries of radiation exposure monitoring and control at each facility. The GPA mutant assay was performed using the BR6 method with modification by using a FACScan flow cytometer. RESULTS: As confounders, age and cigarette smoking habits showed increasing trends with GPA variants, but these were of no statistical significance. Hospital workers showed a higher frequency of the GPA variant than nuclear power plant workers in terms of the NO variant. Significant dose-response relationships were obtained from in simple and multiple linear regression models. The slope of the regression equation for nuclear power plant workers was much smaller than that of hospital workers. These findings suggest that there may be apparent dose-rate effects. CONCLUSION: In population exposed to chronic low-dose radiation, the GPA assay has a potential to be used as an effective biologic marker for assessing the bone marrow cumulative exposure dose.