Field Study of the Possible Effect of Parental Irradiation on the Germline of Children Born to Cleanup Workers and Evacuees of the Chornobyl Accident.

Although transgenerational effects of ionizing radiation exposure have long been a concern, human research to date has been confined to studies of disease phenotype in groups exposed to high dose and high dose rates, such as the Japanese atomic bomb survivors. Transgenerational effects of parental irradiation can be addressed using powerful new genomic technologies. In collaboration with the National Research Center for Radiation Medicine (NRCRM) Ukraine, the US National Cancer Institute, in 2014-2018, conducted a genomic alterations study among children born in selected regions in Ukraine post Chornobyl accident to cleanup workers and/or evacuees exposed to low dose rate radiation. To investigate whether parental exposure is associated with germline mutations and genomic alterations in the offspring, we are collecting biospecimens from father-mother-offspring to study de novo mutations, minisatellite mutations, copy number changes, structural variants, genomic insertions and deletions, methylation profiles and telomere length. Genomic alterations are examined in relation to parental gonadal dose reconstructed using questionnaire and measurement data. Subjects are being recruited in exposure categories that will allow examining parental origin, duration and timing of exposure in relation to conception. Here we describe the study methodology, results of recruitment and provide descriptive information on the first 150 families (mother-father-child(ren).