title: Gender bias in individual radiosensitivity and the association with genetic polymorphic variations.
abstract: To assess the extent of variation in radiosensitivity between individuals, gender-related dissimilarity and impact on the association with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
  
  
  
  Survival curves of 152 fibroblast cell strains derived from both gender were generated. Individual radiosensitivity was characterized by the surviving fraction at 2Gy (SF2). SNPs in 10 radiation responsive genes were genotyped by direct sequencing.
  
  
  
  The wide variation in SF2 (0.12-0.50; mean=0.33) was significantly associated with 3 SNPs: TP53 G72C (P=0.007), XRCC1 G399A (P=0.002) and ATM G1853A (P=0.01). Females and males differed significantly in radiosensitivity (P=0.004) that impacted genetic association where only XRCC1 remained significant in both gender (P<0.05). Meanwhile, discordant association was observed for TP53 that was significant in females (P=0.012) and ATM that was significant in males (P=0.0006). When gender-specific SF2-mean (0.31 and 0.35 for females and males; respectively) was considered, further discordance was observed where XRCC1 turned out not to be associated with radiosensitivity in males (P>0.05).
  
  
  
  Although the variation in individual radiosensitivity was associated with certain SNPs, gender bias for both endpoints was evident. Therefore, assessing the risk of radiation exposure in females and males should be considered separately in order to achieve the ultimate goal of personalized radiation medicine.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Biology Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: galsbeih@kfshrc.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Ghazi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alsbeih
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Rafa S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Al-Meer
authors.affiliation: Radiation Biology Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Najla
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al-Harbi
authors.affiliation: Radiation Biology Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bin Judia
authors.affiliation: Radiation Biology Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Muneera
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Buhairi
authors.affiliation: Radiation Biology Section, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Nikki Q
authors.initials: NQ
authors.lastname: Venturina
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Physics Department, KFSHRC, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Belal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moftah
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011836:Radiation Tolerance / Q000235:genetics; D063507:Sexism; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics; D000076105:X-ray Repair Cross Complementing Protein 1
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D000076105:X-ray Repair Cross Complementing Protein 1; C000619371:XRCC1 protein, human; C576324:ATM protein, human; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
keywords: Biomarker; Gender; Ionizing radiation; Radiosensitivity; Single nucleotide polymorphism