Frequency of Lymphocytes with Mutations at the Locus of T-Cell Receptor in Residents of Radiation Polluted Bryansk Region 28 Years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident
The aim of this study is to assess the level of somatic mutagenesis according to the frequency of lymphocytes bearing mutations at the locus of T-cell receptor (TCR) in the residents of the Bryansk region contaminated with radionuclides as a result of the Chernobyl accident. The study was conducted in 2014 in two regional centers – Klintsy and Novozybkov (average 137Cs pollution density of 322 and 708 kBq/m2, respectively). The average frequency of the TCR-mutant cells in the total group of examined residents of the Bryansk region (n = 237) was not significantly different from that in the group of agematched control persons living in uncontaminated areas (n = 146): 3.8 × 10–4 vs 3.5 × 10–4, respectively (p = 0.84). However, after separation of examinees into 3 groups depending on age at the start of irradiation (at the moment of the Chernobyl accident) it was found that the average frequency of the TCR-mutant cells in the persons exposed in utero was 1.6  higher than that in the control group (p = 0.04). Proportion of persons with an increased frequency of the mutant cells (more than the age norm of this indicator) among prenatally exposed population reached 23.8%, which was about 4 times higher than in the control group (p = 0.04). Proportion of persons with an increased frequency of the TCR-mutant cells in group “0–17 years at the start of irradiation” was about 2 times higher than in controls, but this difference was not statistically significant (8.0% vs 4.3%, respectively, p = 0.33). In the third group “18 or more years old at the start of irradiation” we could not register the difference in the average frequency of theTCR-mutant cells or the proportion of persons with an increased frequency of these cells in comparison with the age-matched control group. In general, comparison with earlier data shows that age-related regularities of somatic mutagenesis established 15–18 years after the Chernobyl accident persist at a later date (after 28 years in this study).