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Human serum miR-34a as an indicator of exposure to ionizing radiation

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Abstract

Radiation exposure in industrial accidents or nuclear device attacks is a major public health concern. There is an urgent need for markers that rapidly identify people exposed to ionizing radiation (IR). Finding a blood-based marker is advantageous because of the ease of sample collection. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that serum miR-34a could serve as an indicator of exposure to IR. Therefore, 44 women with breast cancer, where radiotherapy was part of their therapeutic protocol, were investigated in this study. After demonstrating the appropriateness of our microRNA (miRNA) extraction efficiency and miRNA assay in human serum, we analyzed the miR-34a level in paired serum samples before and after radiotherapy. Fifty Gy X-ray irradiation in daily dose fractions of 2 Gy, 5 days per week, was used in this study. We demonstrated that IR significantly increased serum level of miR-34a. By measuring miR-34a in serum, we could distinguish irradiated patients with sensitivity of 65 % and specificity of 75 %. According to this study, serum miR-34a has the potential to be used as an indicator of radiation exposure.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Babol University of Medical Sciences and University of Guilan.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Biology, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

      Mohammad Halimi & Ahmad Shahabi

    2. Young Researchers and Elite Club, Babol Branch, Islamic Azad University, Babol, Iran

      Mohammad Halimi & Ahmad Shahabi

    3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

      Dariush Moslemi

    4. Cellular and molecular biology research center, Health research institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

      Hadi Parsian & Ebrahim Zabihi

    5. Clinical biochemistry department, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

      Hadi Parsian

    6. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

      S. Mohsen Asghari & Reyhaneh Sariri

    7. Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

      Farshid Yeganeh

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    Mohammad Halimi and Ahmad Shahabi have contributed equally to this work.

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    Halimi, M., Shahabi, A., Moslemi, D. et al. Human serum miR-34a as an indicator of exposure to ionizing radiation. Radiat Environ Biophys 55, 423–429 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-016-0661-6

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