ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The effect of chronic exposure on the FOXP3 concentration in lysates of the mitogen-stimulated mononuclear cells
1 Ural Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Chelyabinsk, Russia
2 Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia
3 South-Ural State Medical University, Chelyabinsk, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Ekaterina A. Kodintseva
Vorovskogo, 68A, Chelyabinsk, 454141, Russia; ur.liam@tac.avorahcvo
Funding: this study was carried out in the framework of state assignment of the FMBA of Russia, subject "State of human cellular immunity during realization of long-term effects of chronic radiation exposure."
Acknowledgments: authors thank Startsev NV, Head of the "Human Being" Database Department of the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the FMBA of Russia, for the data provided; Litvinenko NP, senior laboratory assistant at the Laboratory of Molecular Cellular Radiobiology of the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the FMBA of Russia, for assistance in conducting the experiment.
Author contribution: Kodintseva EA — study concept and design, experimental work, analysis and statistical processing of the data, article authoring; Akleev AA — study concept, interpretation of the results, article editing.
Compliance with ethical standards: the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the FMBA of Russia (Minutes #3 of June 8, 2023). Participants of the study signed a voluntary informed consent in conformity with the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki.
Disruptions of the Treg differentiation and functioning processes can play one of the crucial roles in the pathogenesis of radiation-induced malignant neoplasms in residents of the Techa riverside villages, who were chronically exposed in the low-to-medium dose range with predominant damage to the red bone marrow (RBM). This study aimed to determine the effect of radiation exposure, gender, age at the time of examination, and ethnicity on concentration of FOXP3 protein in lysates of mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells in chronically exposed individuals in the period of cancer effects development. The main group consisted of 30 people aged 67–80 years, predominantly female and Turks. The comparison group included 10 unexposed individuals of similar age, gender, and ethnicity. In the main group, the mean dose to RBM was 867 mGr, to the thymus and peripheral lymphoid organs — 125 mGr. After 24-hour in vitro PHA stimulation, mononuclears were lysed, and the concentrations of the total protein and FOXP3 (using quantitative enzyme immunoassay) were measured. Among the different dose groups, there were no significant differences in FOXP3 concentration in mitogen-stimulated mononuclears (prior to the stimulation: 0 pg/ml in the comparison group and 3.50 ± 1.50 (0–27.19) pg/ml in the main group at p = 0.349; after the stimulation, respectively: 1.54 ± 1.51 (0–15.16) pg/ml and 9.71 ± 3.86 (0–77.92) pg/ml, p = 0.512). The variability of individual values is slightly higher in the main group than in the comparison group. Preliminary results allow concluding that the dose to RBM, thymus and peripheral lymphoid organs, age at the time of examination, gender, and ethnicity have no statistically significant effect on the concentration of FOXP3 protein in the lysates of the mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chronically exposed people.
Keywords: chronic radiation exposure, the Techa River, intracellular concentration, FOXP3 transcription factor, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Phytohemagglutinin