PMID- 9692369
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19980813
LR  - 20081121
IS  - 0033-7587 (Print)
IS  - 0033-7587 (Linking)
VI  - 150
IP  - 2
DP  - 1998 Aug
TI  - Do recorded doses overestimate true doses received by Chernobyl cleanup workers? 
      Results of cytogenetic analyses of Estonian workers by fluorescence in situ 
      hybridization.
PG  - 237-49
AB  - Studies of workers who were sent to Chernobyl after the 1986 reactor accident are 
      being conducted to provide a better understanding of the effects of chronic 
      low-dose radiation exposures. A crucial component to these investigations is an 
      accurate assessment of the radiation doses received during the cleanup 
      activities. To provide information on biological measurements of dose, 
      fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with whole-chromosome painting probes 
      has been applied to quantify stable chromosome aberrations (translocations and 
      insertions) among a defined cohort of 4,833 cleanup workers from Estonia. 
      Cytogenetic analysis of 48-h lymphocyte cultures from 118 Estonian cleanup 
      workers (10.3 cGy mean recorded dose; 25 cGy maximum), 29 Estonian population 
      controls and 21 American controls was conducted by three laboratories. More than 
      258,000 painted metaphases were evaluated. Overall, we observed lower 
      translocation frequencies than has been reported in previous studies using FISH 
      among Chernobyl cleanup workers. In our data, a clear association with increased 
      levels of translocations was seen with increasing age at blood drawing. There was 
      no correlation, however, between aberration frequency and recorded measurements 
      of physical dose or any category of potential high-dose and high-dose-rate 
      exposure such as being sent to Chernobyl in 1986, working on the roof near the 
      damaged nuclear reactor, working in special zones or having multiple tours. In 
      fact, the translocation frequency was lower among the exposed workers than the 
      controls, though not significantly so. To estimate the level of effect that would 
      have been expected in a population of men having an average dose of approximately 
      10 cGy, blood from six donors was exposed to low-LET radiation, and more than 
      32,000 metaphases were scored to estimate dose-response coefficients for 
      radiation-induced translocations in chromosome pairs 1, 2 and 4. Based on these 
      results, we estimate that had this group of 118 men received an average 
      whole-body dose of 10-11 cGy, as chronic or acute exposures, an increase in the 
      mean frequency of chromosome translocations of more than 40-65% would have been 
      observed in their lymphocytes compared to findings in nonirradiated controls. In 
      spite of evaluating more than a quarter of a million metaphases, we were unable 
      to detect any increase in the mean, median or range in chromosome aberrations in 
      lymphocyte cultures from a group of Estonian men who took part in the cleanup of 
      the Chernobyl nuclear power site and those who did not. We conclude that it is 
      likely that recorded doses for these cleanup workers overestimate their average 
      bone marrow doses, perhaps substantially. These results are consistent with 
      several negative studies of cancer incidence in Chernobyl cleanup workers and, if 
      borne out, suggest that future studies may not be sufficiently powerful to detect 
      increases in leukemia or cancer, much less distinguish differences between the 
      effects of chronic compared to brief radiation exposures.
FAU - Littlefield, L G
AU  - Littlefield LG
AD  - Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Tennessee 37830, USA.
FAU - McFee, A F
AU  - McFee AF
FAU - Salomaa, S I
AU  - Salomaa SI
FAU - Tucker, J D
AU  - Tucker JD
FAU - Inskip, P D
AU  - Inskip PD
FAU - Sayer, A M
AU  - Sayer AM
FAU - Lindholm, C
AU  - Lindholm C
FAU - Makinen, S
AU  - Makinen S
FAU - Mustonen, R
AU  - Mustonen R
FAU - Sorensen, K
AU  - Sorensen K
FAU - Tekkel, M
AU  - Tekkel M
FAU - Veidebaum, T
AU  - Veidebaum T
FAU - Auvinen, A
AU  - Auvinen A
FAU - Boice, J D Jr
AU  - Boice JD Jr
LA  - eng
GR  - N01-CP-50520/CP/NCI NIH HHS/United States
GR  - N01-CP-85638-03/CP/NCI NIH HHS/United States
GR  - Y01-CP4-0599/CP/NCI NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - United States
TA  - Radiat Res
JT  - Radiation research
JID - 0401245
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
MH  - Estonia/ethnology
MH  - Humans
MH  - *In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
MH  - Lymphocytes/*radiation effects/ultrastructure
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - *Occupational Exposure
MH  - *Power Plants
MH  - *Radiation Dosage
MH  - *Radioactive Hazard Release
MH  - Regression Analysis
MH  - Smoking
MH  - *Translocation, Genetic
MH  - Ukraine
EDAT- 1998/08/06 02:03
MHDA- 2001/03/28 10:01
CRDT- 1998/08/06 02:03
PHST- 1998/08/06 02:03 [pubmed]
PHST- 2001/03/28 10:01 [medline]
PHST- 1998/08/06 02:03 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Radiat Res. 1998 Aug;150(2):237-49.