Quantitative and qualitative mutational impact of ionizing radiation on normal cells.

The comprehensive genomic impact of ionizing radiation (IR), a carcinogen, on healthy somatic cells remains unclear. Using large-scale whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of clones expanded from irradiated murine and human single cells, we revealed that IR induces a characteristic spectrum of short insertions or deletions (indels) and structural variations (SVs), including balanced inversions, translocations, composite SVs (deletion-insertion, deletion-inversion, and deletion-translocation composites), and complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs), including chromoplexy, chromothripsis, and SV by breakage-fusion-bridge cycles. Our findings suggest that 1 Gy IR exposure causes an average of 2.33 mutational events per Gb genome, comprising 2.15 indels, 0.17 SVs, and 0.01 CGRs, despite a high level of inter-cellular stochasticity. The mutational burden was dependent on total irradiation dose, regardless of dose rate or cell type. The findings were further validated in IR-induced secondary cancers and single cells without clonalization. Overall, our study highlights a comprehensive and clear picture of IR effects on normal mammalian genomes.

Low-dose irradiation promotes Rad51 expression by down-regulating miR-193b-3p in hepatocytes.

Current evidence indicates that there is a relationship between microRNA (miRNA)-mediated gene silencing and low-dose irradiation (LDIR) responses. Here, alterations of miRNA expression in response to LDIR exposure in male BALB/c mice and three different types of hepatocytes were investigated. The miRNome of the LDIR-exposed mouse spleens (0.01 Gy, 6.5 mGy/h) was analyzed, and the expression of miRNA and mRNA was validated by qRT-PCR. Western blotting, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and luciferase assays were also performed to evaluate the interaction between miRNAs and their target genes and to gain insight into the regulation of miRNA expression. The expression of miRNA-193b-3p was down-regulated in the mouse spleen and liver and in various hepatocytes (NCTC, Hepa, and HepG2 cell lines) in response to LDIR. The down-regulation of miR-193b-3p expression was caused by histone deacetylation on the miR-193b-3p promoter in the HepG2 cells irradiated with 0.01 Gy. However, the alteration of histone deacetylation and miR-193b-3p and Rad51 expression in response to LDIR was restored by pretreatment with N-acetyl-cyctein. In conclusion, we provide evidence that miRNA responses to LDIR include the modulation of cellular stress responses and repair mechanisms.