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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Expression of activated checkpoint kinase 2 and histone 2AX in exfoliative oral cells after exposure to ionizing radiation.

Authors: Yoon, Angela J; Shen, Jing; Wu, Hui-Chen; Angelopoulos, Christos; Singer, Steven R; Chen, Rongzhen; Santella, Regina M

Published In Radiat Res, (2009 Jun)

Abstract: Gamma-H2AX (activated histone 2AX) and pChk2 (activated checkpoint kinase 2), which are DNA damage response molecules, are produced in irradiated cells and may be signature molecules of radiation exposure. We investigated their use as potential biomarkers to identify individuals exposed to ionizing radiation. We collected exfoliated oral epithelial cell samples from 100 healthy individuals undergoing routine dental radiographic examination (2.34 cGy) both before and after the radiograph using a non-invasive technique. The expression levels of pChk2 and gamma-H2AX in oral cells were assessed by immunohistochemical assay. Both biomarkers showed statistically significant increases in levels of expression after the radiation exposure (P < 0.001). This suggests that pChk2 and gamma-H2AX may serve as sensitive indicators of low-dose radiation exposure.

PubMed ID: 19580484 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers; Checkpoint Kinase 2; Enzyme Activation; Epithelial Cells/metabolism; Epithelial Cells/radiation effects*; Female; Gene Expression/radiation effects*; Histones/genetics*; Histones/metabolism; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Male; Middle Aged; Mouth Mucosa/cytology*; Mouth Mucosa/metabolism; Mouth Mucosa/radiation effects; Photomicrography; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics*; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism; Radiation, Ionizing*; Radiography, Dental; Young Adult

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