Identification of potential biomarkers of radiation exposure in blood cells by capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Sun, L.*; Inaba, Yohei*; Kanzaki, Norie   ; Bekal, M.*; Chida, Koichi*; Moritake, Takashi*

Biodosimetry is a useful method to estimate the personal dose after unexpected ionizing radiation exposure. Studies have been reported that metabolites are useful markers for biodosimetry. However, these studies only focused on non-cellular biofluid (e.g., serum, plasma, urine, or saliva). Blood cell metabolites may reflect the health status or environmental stresses differently than metabolites of plasma. Here, we report changes in the metabolites of blood cells after X-ray irradiation of C57BL/6J mice. Blood cell metabolites were measured by capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We found that 106 metabolites were changed significantly after irradiation. We identified that 2'-deoxycytidine, choline, and N6-acetyllysine as potentially useful discriminating markers of radiation exposure. These metabolites have not been reported previously. Furthermore, we established a prediction panel of the exposure dose using stepwise regression analysis. These findings suggest that blood cell metabolites may be useful biomarkers to estimate exposure doses during unexpected radiation incidents.