title: Frequency of Acentric Fragments Are Associated with Cancer Risk in Subjects Exposed to Ionizing Radiation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Biomonitoring is currently applied in the estimation of health risks after overexposure to ionizing radiation (IR). The aim of this study was to compare the association of dicentric chromosomes and acentric fragments (AF) with cancer risk in subjects exposed to IR, as well as in control subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed on 3,574 subjects (2,030 subjects exposed to IR and 1,544 control subjects). The mean follow-up period was 8 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In subjects reporting exposure to IR, the presence of AFs and dicentric chromosomes was associated with a significant increase in cancer risk, hazard ratio (HR)=1.78 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-3.13) and HR=1.73 (95% CI=1.03-2.90), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AFs are associated with cancer risk and have a similar sensitivity to dicentric chromosomes in subjects exposed to IR. Because automated AF scoring can be easily introduced using fast flow cytometry combined with the pan-centromere staining, this biomarker may hold promise as a potential sensitive biomarker of exposure to IR and cancer risk.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia afucic@imi.hr.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fucic
authors.affiliation: Unit of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonassi
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Sarolta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gundy
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Juozas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lazutka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine AS CR, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Radim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sram
authors.affiliation: IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceppi
authors.affiliation: University of California, Emeritus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Joe N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Lucas
mesh_terms: D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000235:genetics*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing
keywords: Ionizing radiation; acentric fragments; cancer risk; carcinogenesis; chromosomal aberrations; chromosome damage