The increased risk of acute large-scale radiation exposure of the population underlies the necessity to develop new methods that could provide a rapid assessment of the doses received while using modern high-throughput technologies. At the same time, there is a growing interest in discovering new biomarkers enabling the categorization of irradiated individuals that could be used in epidemiological studies to correlate the estimated absorbed doses with the consequent impact on patients health. The aim of this study was to summarize the current literature on biological dosimetry, specifically ionizing radiation-responsive biomarkers. We briefly describe current knowledge in the field of radiation genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics. Although the majority of studies that provided a plethora of useful information were conducted in animal models, oncological patients remain the crucial experimental model. The authors describe various biological materials that could be potentially used to predict the effect of ionizing radiation. Plasma proteins appear to be ideal for this purpose. Out of many candidate markers, the ferredoxin reductase (FDXR) seems to be promising, as it has been confirmed in several biodosimetric studies at the level of both human gene and protein.
Keywords: Metabolomics; Proteomics; biodosimetry; biomarker; cerebrospinal fl uid; proteomics; radiation protection.