Transcriptional Response in Mouse Thyroid Tissue after 211At Administration: Effects of Absorbed Dose, Initial Dose-Rate and Time after Administration

Background At-211-labeled radiopharmaceuticals are potentially useful for tumor therapy. However, a limitation has been the preferential accumulation of released At-211 in the thyroid gland, which is a critical organ for such therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of absorbed dose, dose-rate, and time after At-211 exposure on genome-wide transcriptional expression in mouse thyroid gland. Methods BALB/c mice were i.v. injected with 1.7, 7.5 or 100 kBq At-211. Animals injected with 1.7 kBq were killed after 1, 6, or 168 h with mean thyroid absorbed doses of 0.023, 0.32, and 1.8 Gy, respectively. Animals injected with 7.5 and 100 kBq were killed after 6 and 1 h, respectively; mean thyroid absorbed dose was 1.4 Gy. Total RNA was extracted from pooled thyroids and the Illumina RNA microarray platform was used to determine mRNA levels. Differentially expressed transcripts and enriched GO terms were determined with adjusted p-value <0.01 and fold change >1.5, and p-value <0.05, respectively. Results In total, 1232 differentially expressed transcripts were detected after At-211 administration, demonstrating a profound effect on gene regulation. The number of regulated transcripts increased with higher initial dose-rate/absorbed dose at 1 or 6 h. However, the number of regulated transcripts decreased with mean absorbed dose/time after 1.7 kBq At-211 administration. Furthermore, similar regulation profiles were seen for groups administered 1.7 kBq. Interestingly, few previously proposed radiation responsive genes were detected in the present study. Regulation of immunological processes were prevalent at 1, 6, and 168 h after 1.7 kBq administration (0.023, 0.32, 1.8 Gy).