Age-related long-term response in rat thyroid tissue and plasma after internal low dose exposure to ¹³¹I

¹³¹I is used clinically for therapy, and may be released during nuclear accidents. After the Chernobyl accident papillary thyroid carcinoma incidence increased in children, but not adults. The aims of this study were to compare ¹³¹I irradiation-dependent differences in RNA and protein expression in the thyroid and plasma of young and adult rats, and identify potential age-dependent biomarkers for ¹³¹I exposure. Twelve young (5 weeks) and twelve adult Sprague Dawley rats (17 weeks) were i.v. injected with 50 kBq ¹³¹I (absorbed dose to thyroid = 0.1 Gy), and sixteen unexposed age-matched rats were used as controls. The rats were killed 3-9 months after administration. Microarray analysis was performed using RNA from thyroid samples, while LC-MS/MS analysis was performed on proteins extracted from thyroid tissue and plasma. Canonical pathways, biological functions and upstream regulators were analysed for the identified transcripts and proteins. Distinct age-dependent differences in gene and protein expression were observed. Novel biomarkers for thyroid ¹³¹I exposure were identified: (PTH), age-dependent dose response (CA1, FTL1, PVALB (youngsters) and HSPB6 (adults)), thyroid function (Vegfb (adults)). Further validation using clinical samples are needed to explore the role of the identified biomarkers.