In search of biomarkers of ionising radiation exposure

On 17th and 18th May, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) hosted the kick-off meeting of the INT-Thyr project. This European Study is designed to investigate potential biomarkers of radiation-induced thyroid cancer in samples from patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Belarus who were exposed during their childhood or adolescence to ionising radiation in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident.

The INT-Thyr project, conducted within the framework of the European DoReMi Network of Excellence on low dose radiation risk, is coordinated by Prof Elisabeth Cardis, head of the Radiation Programme at CREAL. The project includes three research institutions with complementary expertise: the Helmholtz Zentrum München (HGMU; Germany) for molecular analyses, the Belarusian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education (BelMAPO, Belarus) which is in charge of follow-up and treatment of Chernobyl related thyroid cancers patients in Belarus and CREAL (Prof. Elisabeth Cardis, Dr. Eileen Pernot and Dr. James Grellier) , which will coordinate the project, provide epidemiological and dosimetric expertise, and conduct the statistical analyses of the data . During the meeting, discussions focused on the organisation and planning of the work and on establishing the best means to integrate radiation biomarkers into epidemiological studies. Specific objectives of the project are:

•;to validate gain in 7q11 and CLIP2 overexpression as radiation biomarkers in a cohort of post-Chernobyl thyroid cancer cases in Belarus;
•;to study the dose and age-relationship of these markers, evaluate the possible modifying effects of iodine deficiency and other factors on this relationship and estimate attributable fraction of radiation induced cases.