Analysis of human peripheral blood 48 hours after irradiation ex vivo with graded doses of gamma rays. Results have been used in building and testing classifiers to predict exposure dose for use in radiological triage and also provide insight into immune cell responses. Results were compared with those from earlier times and from patients exposed in vivo. Peripheral blood from 5 healthy donors was exposed ex vivo to 0. 0.5 2 5 or 8 Gy gamma-rays and gene expression was analyzed up to 48 hours after exposure.

Proton irradiation is touted for its improved tumor targeting due to the physical advantages of ion beams for radiotherapy. Recent studies from our laboratory have shown that in addition to targeting advantages proton irradiation can inhibit angiogenic and immune factors and thereby modulate tumor progression. High-energy protons also constitute a principal component of the galactic cosmic rays to which astronauts are exposed. Increased understanding of the biological effects of proton exposure would thus contribute to both improved cancer therapy and carcinogenesis risk assessment for space travel. In addition age plays a major role in tumor incidence and is a critical consideration for estimating cancer risk. We investigated the effects of host age and proton exposure on tumor progression. Tumor lag time and growth dynamics were tracked following injection of murine Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells into young (68 day) versus old (736 day) mice with or without coincident irradiation. Tumor progression was suppressed in old compared to young mice. Differences in progression were further modulated by proton irradiation (1GeV) with increased inhibition evident in old mice. Through global transcriptome analysis TGFB1 and TGFB2 were determined to be key players that contributed to the tumor dynamics observed. These findings point to older hosts providing decreased systemic tumor support which can be further inhibited by proton irradiation. Overall design: For genome-wide expression profiling of tumor tissue Mouse WG-6 BeadArray chips (Illumina San Diego CA) were used. Total RNA was amplified with the Ambion Illumina TotalPrep Amplification Kit (Ambion Austin TX) and labeled from all replicate biological samples for each condition. For tumor replicates thirty tumor samples from adolescent and thirty tumor samples from old mice for a total of 60 tumor samples were used. All replicate samples were run individually. For each age group ten tumor samples had received proton irradiation while twenty tumor samples were from unirradiated mice (as described above). Total RNA was isolated and purified using TRIzol (Invitrogen) and quantified using an Agilent Bioanalyzer. Samples were deemed suitable for amplification and hybridization if they had 28s/18s = 2:1 RIN >7. Total RNA of 500ng per sample was amplified using AmbionTotalPrep and 1.5ug of the product was loaded onto the chips. Following hybridization at 55C the chips were washed and then scanned using the Illumina iScan System. The data was checked with GenomeStudio (Illumina) for quality control. In GenomeStudio data was background subtracted and rank invariant normalization was applied. Data was imported into MultiExperiment Viewer MeV for statistical analysis. The statistically significant genes were determined using MeV by applying a one-way ANOVA analysis with standard Bonferroni correction with a FDR <0.05 that resulted in a list of significant genes. Average gene expression signals <10 were filtered out due to signal being

Methods: RNA-seq libraries were prepared using the Illumina TruSeq RNA kit and the TrueSeq method was employed for mRNA enrichment. The libraries were quantified and samples were multiplexed in each lane of the flowcell. Cluster generation was performed and then sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq1000 system. Reads were mapped on the Human Genome Reference and normalized expression table was generated. Results: Among differentially expressed genes 53 of them were up-regulated and 75 were down-regulated. Conclusions: Data demonstrate increased expression of genes associated with growth development and pro-survival in cardiac progenitors cultured under simulated microgravity compared with those cultured under standard gravity. RNA-sequencing analysis was performed to compare global gene expression profiles of cells at differentiation day 8 under simulated microgravity vs. standard gravity.

Space travel presents unlimited opportunities for exploration and discovery but requires a more complete understanding of the immunological consequences of long-term exposure to the conditions of spaceflight. To understand these consequences better and to contribute to design of effective countermeasures we used the Drosophila model to compare innate immune responses to bacteria and fungi in flies that were either raised on earth or in outer space aboard the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-121). Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression that occur in response to infection by bacteria and fungus in drosophila that were either hatched and raised in outer space (microgravity) or on earth (normal gravity). Whole Oregon R strain drosophila melanogaster fruit flies either raised on earth or in space that were (1) uninfected (2) infected with bacteria (Escherichia coli) or (3) infected with fungus (Beauveria bassiana) were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.

Transcriptional crosstalk between mammary gland liver and adipose tissue Experiment Overall Design: Pregnant and Lactating rats exposed to 3 gravity conditions

Human deep space and planetary travel is limited by uncertainties regarding the health risks associated with exposure to galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) and in particular the high linear energy transfer (LET) heavy ion component. Here we assessed the impact of two high-LET ions 56Fe and 28Si and low-LET X rays on genome-wide methylation patterns in human bronchial epithelial cells. We found that all three radiation types induced rapid and stable changes in DNA methylation but at distinct subsets of CpG sites affecting different chromatin compartments. The 56Fe ions induced mostly hypermethylation and primarily affected sites in open chromatin regions including enhancers promoters and edges ( shores ) of CpG islands. The 28Si ion-exposure had mixed effects inducing both hyper and hypomethylation and affecting sites in more repressed heterochromatic environments whereas X rays induced mostly hypomethylation primarily at sites in gene bodies and intergenic regions. Significantly the methylation status of 56Fe ion irradiation sensitive sites but not those affected by X ray or 28Si ions could discriminate tumor from normal tissue for human lung adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. Thus high LET radiation exposure leaves a lasting imprint on the epigenome and affects sites relevant to human lung cancer. The 56Fe ion signature may prove useful in monitoring the cumulative biological impact and associated cancer risks encountered by astronauts in deep space. Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of normal human bronchial epithelial cells irradiated with varying doses of 28Si-ion radiation ( 300 MeV/u at 0 0.3 1.0 Gy) 56Fe-ion radiation (600 MeV/u at 0 0.1 0.3 1.0 Gy) or X rays (320 kV at 0 1.0 Gy). Triplicate control and irradiated samples were incubated and sampled at 4 timepoints between 2 and 62 days. The Illumina Infinium 450k Human DNA methylation Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across >485,000 CpGs from collected samples. Samples include: 56Fe ions 4 doses x 4 time points x 3 replicates (4 removed in QC) = 44 samples; 28Si ions = 3 doses x 4 time points x 3 replicates = 36 samples; X ray 2 doses x 4 time points x 3 replicates (2 removed in QC)= 22 samples. Overall design: Bisulphite converted DNA from the 102 samples were hybridized to the Illumina Infinium 450k Human Methylation Beadchip.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate transcriptional changes in mouse skin using a ground-based model for spaceflight. This model includes prolonged unloading and low-dose irradiation. Low-dose-rate gamma-radiation was delivered to 6-month old female C57BL/6J mice using 57Co plates (0.04 Gy) to simulate the radiation environment of spaceflight. Anti-orthostatic tail suspension was used to model the unloading fluid shift and physiological stress aspects of the microgravity component of spaceflight. Mice were hindlimb suspended and/or irradiated for 21 days. Mice were euthanized and dorsal skin was collected 7 days following treatment. RNA sequencing data was generated to assess transcriptional changes in these skin samples.

Ionizing radiations are categorized by linear energy transfer (LET) into low-LET and high-LET. High-LET is considered to have a higher relative biological effectiveness (RBE) than low-LET radiations. However the details of the effects have not been clearly determined. The aim of this study was to characterize the difference between high-LET and low LET radiations. The global effects of the three types of high-LET radiations (fast neutron heavy ion (C) and thermal neutron) were compared with the low-LET radiation (gamma ray) using yeast DNA microarrays. Highly induced genes by the three types of high-LET radiations were those genes related to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress was one of the common factors associated with the four types of radiations. Oxidative stress induced by high-LET radiations may be more serious than that induced by gamma rays. Additionally genes related to protein synthesis and the ubiquitin and proteasome system were detected. This suggests that more protein damages can be induced by high-LET radiation that denatures the proteins in yeast cells. The genes specifically altered by each type of high-LET radiation were also studied. Overall design: This series contains 4 kinds of irradiation-induced gene expression profiles. Triplicates hybridization was done in each irradiation exposure and each array have high and low power scanned data respectively. All biological samples were collected independently.