Somatic Cell Mutations in Atomic Bomb Survivors

A Review of Forty-Five Years Study of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors II. BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

Abstract

Mutant frequencies in peripheral blood lymphocytes and erythrocytes have been measured for atomic bomb survivors having various DS86 doses. Among the four assay systems utilized so far, erythrocyte glycophorin A assay revealed a dose related increase of mutant frequency, similar to the results obtained with in vitro mutagenesis studies at HPRT locus using human diploid cells. Mutant T-lymphocyte frequency of the HPRT locus detected as resistant to 6-thioguanine significantly increased with DS86 dose however the slope was very shallow compared with that of in vitro study. Mutation at T-cell receptor genes and the HLA-A gene did not show a significant increase in frequency with dose in cells of survivors studied.