Chornobyl catastrophe: cytogenetic effects of low dose ionizing radiation and their modification

Abstract

Among the long-term effects of the Chornobyl disaster the greatest concern of international medical and scientific community is given to the established fact of excess of the spontaneous level of cancer incidence in the exposed population. According to modern concepts, the accumulation of chromosome aberrations, especially in radiosensitive cells, could be potentially oncogenic, and low doses of ionizing radiation could be promoters of the radiation-induced carcinogenesis. The results of our studies have shown that such substances as thymalin, inosine, ascorbic acid, caffeine could modify radiation-induced cytogenetic effects in peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy individuals and exert protective or sensitizing action dependent on their concentrations, cell radiosensitivity, dose of irradiation, and relative biologic effectiveness of ionizing radiation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “The Chornobyl Nuclear Accident: Thirty Years After”.