Schmid, Nikolai and Gorte, Vadim and Akers, Michael and Verloh, Niklas and Haimerl, Michael and Stroszczynski, Christian and Scherthan, Harry and Orben, Timo and Stewart, Samantha and Kubitscheck, Laura and Kaatsch, Hanns Leonhard and Port, Matthias and Abend, Michael and Ostheim, Patrick (2025) Impact of Low-Dose CT Radiation on Gene Expression and DNA Integrity. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES, 26 (24): 11869. ISSN 1661-6596, 1422-0067
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Computed tomography (CT) is a major source of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure in medical imaging. Risk assessment at this dose level is difficult and relies on the hypothetical linear no-threshold model. To address the response to such low doses in patients undergoing CT scans, we examined radiation-induced alterations at the transcriptomic and DNA damage levels in peripheral blood cells. Peripheral whole blood of 60 patients was collected before and after CT. Post-CT samples were obtained 4-6 h after scan (n = 28, in vivo incubation) or alternatively immediately after the CT scan, followed by ex vivo incubation (n = 32). The gene expression of known radiation-responsive genes (n = 9) was quantified using qRT-PCR. DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) were assessed in 12 patients through microscopic gamma-H2AX + 53BP1 DSB focus staining. The mean dose-length product (DLP) across all scans was 561.9 +/- 384.6 mGy<middle dot>cm. Significant differences in the median differential gene expression (DGE) were detected between in vivo and ex vivo incubation conditions, implicating that ex vivo incubation masked the true effect in low-dose settings. The median DGE of in vivo-incubated samples showed a significant upregulation of EDA2R, MIR34AHG, PHLDA3, DDB2, FDXR, and AEN (p ranging from <0.001 to 0.041). In vivo, we observed a linear dose-dependent upregulation for several genes and an explained variance of 0.66 and 0.56 for AEN and FDXR, respectively. DSB focus analysis revealed a slight, non-significant increase in the average DSB damage post-exposure, at a mean DLP of 321.0 mGy<middle dot>cm. Our findings demonstrate that transcriptional biomarkers are sensitive indicators of low-dose radiation exposure in medical imaging and could prove themselves as clinically applicable biodosimetry tools. Furthermore, the results underscore the need for dose optimization.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | IN-VIVO FORMATION; IONIZING-RADIATION; BLOOD-CELLS; REPAIR; DAMAGE; GAMMA-H2AX; PROFILES; low-dose radiation exposure; biomarker; FDXR; DDB2; AEN; EDA2R; gene expression; CT; gamma-H2AX; DNA double-strand breaks |
| Subjects: | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Röntgendiagnostik |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 19 May 2026 06:52 |
| Last Modified: | 19 May 2026 06:52 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/67448 |
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