PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Amrita K Cheema
AU  - Yaoxiang Li
AU  - Joanna Moulton
AU  - Michael Girgis
AU  - Stephen Y. Wise
AU  - Alana Carpenter
AU  - Oluseyi O. Fatanmi
AU  - Vijay K. Singh
TI  - Identification of multi-omics molecular signature of acute radiation injury using nonhuman primate model
AID  - 10.1101/2021.10.16.464661
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.10.16.464661
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/17/2021.10.16.464661.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/17/2021.10.16.464661.full
AB  - The availability of validated biomarkers to assess radiation exposure and to assist in developing medical countermeasures remains an unmet need. We used a cobalt-60 gamma-irradiated nonhuman primate (NHP) model to delineate a multi-omics-based serum probability index of radiation exposure. Both male and female NHPs were irradiated with different doses ranging from 6.0 to 8.5 Gy, with 0.5 Gy increments between doses. We leveraged high resolution mass spectrometry for analysis of metabolites, lipids, and proteins at 1,2, and 6 days post-irradiation in NHP serum. A logistic regression model was implemented to develop a 4-analyte panel to stratify irradiated NHPs from unirradiated with high accuracy that was agnostic for all doses of γ-rays tested in the study, up to six days after exposure. This panel was comprised of Serpin Family A9, acetylcarnitine, PC (16:0/22:6), and suberylglycine, which showed 2 – 4-fold elevation in serum abundance upon irradiation in NHPs, and can potentially be translated for human use following larger validation studies. Taken together, this study, for the first time, demonstrates the utility of a combinatorial molecular characterization approach using an NHP model for developing minimally invasive assays from small volumes of blood that can be effectively used for radiation exposure assessments.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.