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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Modified Terminal Restriction Fragment Analysis for Quantifying Telomere Length Using In-gel Hybridization
Published on: July 10, 2017
Telomere length modulates human radiation sensitivity in vitro
M Castella1, S Puerto, A Creus
1Grup de Mutagènesi, Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Edifici C, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
Abstract:
The molecular basis of the interindividual differences of normal individuals to ionizing radiation is poorly understood. Several studies in telomerase KO mice with short telomeres have uncovered an inverse relationship between telomere length and radiation sensitivity. The present work aims to determine if chromosome radiosensitivity is correlated with telomere length in healthy individuals. With this purpose, individual radiosensitivity was determined by the micronucleus assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes from two groups of individuals of the same age but with highly heterogeneous telomere length, selected from a population of 181 individuals where we previously measured telomere length. Our study demonstrates that telomere length modulates chromosome in vitro radiosensitivity in healthy individuals as the group with short telomeres presented higher frequencies of ionizing radiation-induced micronuclei when compared to the long telomeres group. This result supports the conclusion that individual telomere length acts as biomarker of individual chromosome instability upon exposure to ionizing radiation.
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