The mothers and fathers experienced a range of radiation doses. Each parent was evaluated for protracted exposure to ionizing radiation, which may have occurred through the consumption of contaminated milk (that is, milk from cows that grazed on pastures that had been contaminated by radioactive fallout). One or both of the parents had been workers who helped clean up from the accident or had been evacuated because they lived in close proximity to the accident site. Chanock and his colleagues analyzed the complete genomes of 130 people born between 19 and their 105 mother-father pairs.
The first study investigated the long-standing question of whether radiation exposure results in genetic changes that can be passed from parent to offspring, as has been suggested by some studies in animals. The new research builds on this foundation using next-generation DNA sequencing and other genomic characterization tools to analyze biospecimens from people in Ukraine who were affected by the disaster. Studies have provided much of today’s knowledge about cancers caused by radiation exposures from nuclear power plant accidents. The Chernobyl accident exposed millions of people in the surrounding region to radioactive contaminants. "In recent years, advances in DNA sequencing technology have enabled us to begin to address some of the important questions, in part through comprehensive genomic analyses carried out in well-designed epidemiological studies." Chanock, M.D., director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG). "Scientific questions about the effects of radiation on human health have been investigated since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and have been raised again by Chernobyl and by the nuclear accident that followed the tsunami in Fukushima, Japan," said Stephen J. The studies were published online in Science on April 22. The findings, published around the 35th anniversary of the disaster, are from international teams of investigators led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The second study documented the genetic changes in the tumors of people who developed thyroid cancer after being exposed as children or fetuses to the radiation released by the accident. One study found no evidence that radiation exposure to parents resulted in new genetic changes being passed from parent to child. In two landmark studies, researchers have used cutting-edge genomic tools to investigate the potential health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen, from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. Credit: National Cancer Institute | iStock
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