title: Gene expression profiles of post-Chernobyl thyroid cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We discuss new evidence supporting the existence of a susceptibility to develop cancer following radiation exposure that is variable in the general population and could be measurable from gene expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Microarray analysis of spontaneous and post-Chernobyl thyroid cancers has uncovered gene expression radiation signatures, one of which could be related to the putative cause of these tumors and to a DNA repair pathway. A gene expression signature distinguishes the lymphocytes drawn from parents of children with retinoblastoma and the lymphocytes of parents of healthy children. The first are more radiosensitive. A familial clustering pattern is observed in radiation-induced meningiomas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The existence of a susceptibility to develop radiation-induced cancer would explain why only a minority of the population most heavily exposed to radiation following the Chernobyl disaster developed a cancer. The possibility of measuring this susceptibility from gene expression has a number of implications for research, medicine and radioprotection.
authors.affiliation: IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. vdetours@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Detours
authors.forename: Soetkin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Versteyhe
authors.forename: Jacques E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: Carine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maenhaut