Blood molecular profile to predict genotoxicity from exposure to antineoplastic drugs

• Published in: Mutation research. Genetic toxicology and environmental mutagenesis 2023-10, Vol.891, p.503681-503681, Article 503681
• Main Authors: Ladeira, Carina, Araújo, Rúben, Ramalhete, Luís, Teixeira, Hélder, Calado, Cecília R.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastics; Cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay; Frozen blood; FTIR-spectroscopy; Genotoxicity; Molecular profile
• ISSN: 1383-5718; 1879-3592
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mrgentox.2023.503681

Genotoxicity is an important information that should be included in human biomonitoring programmes. However, the usually applied cytogenetic assays are laborious and time-consuming, reason why it is critical to develop rapid and economic new methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the molecular profile of frozen whole blood, acquired by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, allows to assess genotoxicity in occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs, as obtained by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay. For that purpose, 92 samples of peripheral blood were studied: 46 samples from hospital professionals occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs and 46 samples from workers in academia without exposure (controls). It was first evaluated the metabolome from frozen whole blood by methanol precipitation of macromolecules as haemoglobin, followed by centrifugation. The metabolome molecular profile resulted in 3 ratios of spectral bands, significantly different between the exposed and non-exposed group (p