Rh factor is associated with individual radiosensitivity: A cytogenetic study

INTRODUCTION Radiosensitivity is an inherent trait, associated with a raised reaction to ionizing radiation on the human body. In radiotherapy and radiation protection fields, individualization of the patient's treatment is one of the main topics. With the goal of determining biomarkers capable of anticipating normal tissue side reactions, we studied the association between the Rh factor and radiosensitivity. METHODS This experimental study was carried out from January to June 2014 among 50 normal responders with A blood group (25Rh+ and 25Rh-) between the ages of 22 and 23 in Babol, Iran. Human peripheral blood samples were taken from subjects and, using CBMN assay, the biological effects of gamma irradiation, including the frequency of micronuclei (MN) and nuclear division index (NDI), were measured. A data analysis was performed using SPSS version 18 to determine the independent and paired samples t-tests. RESULTS A significant increment occurred in the frequency of MN in group Rh+ (196 ± 18.23) compared with Rh- (169 ± 17.11) following irradiation (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The Rh factor might be a predicting marker in an individual's radiosensitivity to ionizing radiations. However, we believe that additional investigations are needed to prove this hypothesis.