Since been found, miRNA has drawn increasing attention for it plays an important role in a number of biological processes. A recent study pointed out that this small RNA molecules not only attribute to diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases in a prominent, but also to predict long-term damage caused by radiation exposure in living organisms within 24 hours, and its estimated speed is much faster than existing radiation absorbed dose method.
This successful research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on May 13th.
Researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented this novel blood test, before labor tests showed that the method can reveal the fate of victims of radiation accidents, as well as the dose of radiation received by them within 24 hours, which will caused severe bone damage, or damage to other organs. The researchers said this detection can “help prompt medical intervention and improve the overall living conditions of patients.”
From nuclear power plants, radioactive materials, nuclear and other high-energy radiation can cause radiation patients’ living tissue damage and even cancer and infections. The most susceptible to radiation toxicity are the hematopoietic system, which is composed of the composition of the blood and blood-forming organs. Damage required months or a few weeks to reflect after radiation exposure out, this will hinder timely medical treatment, and methods currently used to predict in vivo radiation dose to the patient are detecting the loss of white blood cells, damage DNA or chromosomal abnormalities which are often tedious and time-consuming.
Compared with the current methods, this method uses the unique blood biomarkers: miRNA. In the future, these molecules may serve as diagnostic biomarkers to guide the early treatment of radiation accident victims.
The researchers gave mice exposed to low, high, and lethal dose of total body irradiation and exposure to radiation is detected within 24 hours of miRNA concentration in blood. The change was found in the screening of 170 miRNAs in 68 kinds of serum miRNAs occurred before or after the emergence of radiation, and these serum miRNAs can serve as “a signal indicator of radiation dose”. These miRNAs can distinguish between lethal and non-lethal dose of radiation, and to accurately predict the overall survival.
At the same time researchers also analyzed the correlation between radiation therapy and miRNAs, they found that mice receiving radiation therapy before in contact with lethal doses of radiation, its RNA expression profiles reflect the protective effect of the drug, and can predict the serious injury suffered in a lesser extent. As for the lethal dose of radiation after bone marrow transplantation in mice, miRNAs have also identified the role.
These results indicate that, miRNA can be changed within 24 hours after radiation exposure, and therefore can be used as a biomarker for early diagnosis and treatment, the application and radiation therapy.