HEMODOSE: A Biodosimetry Tool Based on Multi-type Blood Cell Counts

Area of Science:

• Radiation biology
• Hematology
• Biomarker discovery

Background:

• Peripheral blood cell counts serve as critical biomarkers for assessing radiation exposure.
• Hematopoiesis, the process of blood cell formation, is significantly perturbed by radiation exposure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the HemoDose software for estimating absorbed radiation doses using peripheral blood cell counts.
• To assess the utility of HemoDose in various exposure scenarios, including historical accidents.

Main Methods:

• Application of a simplified compartmental modeling approach to simulate radiation-induced hematopoiesis perturbations.
• Utilizing multi-type blood cell counts (granulocyte, lymphocyte, leukocyte, platelet) as input for dose estimation.
• Testing the HemoDose software with patient data from historical radiation accidents.

Main Results:

• Both single and serial blood cell counts after radiation exposure are robust indicators of absorbed dose.
• The correlation between cell counts and absorbed dose is observed in both early (1-2 days) and late (up to 4 weeks) phases post-exposure.
• Combined analysis of four cell types enhances dose estimation accuracy.

Conclusions:

• HemoDose software effectively estimates absorbed radiation doses using peripheral blood cell counts.
• The software demonstrates capability as a rapid diagnostic tool for radiation exposure.
• HemoDose is suitable for large-scale nuclear/radiological disaster scenarios involving mass casualties.