Mouse T-cell lymphomas induced by irradiation at different ages

Children are considered more sensitive to radiation-induced cancer than adults, yet any differences in genomic alterations associated with age at exposure and their underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We analyzed the mutation of key tumor suppressor genes in T-cell lymphomas arising after weekly irradiation of female B6C3F1 mice with 1.2 Gy X-rays for 4 consecutive weeks starting during infancy (1 week old), adolescence (4 weeks old) or as young adults (8 weeks old). T-cell lymphoma incidence did not show any statistical differences among three irradiated groups; however, the frequency of loss of heterozygosity on chromosomes 11 and 19 showed opposing correlations with age at exposure. Ikaros on chromosome 11 was mutated frequently in the young adult–irradiation group (63%; 5/8), frequently incurring multiple independent hits (including deletions and mutations) or suffering a single hit predicted to result in a dominant negative protein (such as those lacking exon 4, an isoform we have designated Ik11, which lacks two of the four zinc–finger domains important for DNA binding). Pten on chromosome 19 was mutated more frequently in tumors from infant- (67%; 10/15) compared with young adult-irradiated mice (13%; 1/8, P = 0.041). Despite the presence of homozygous Pten mutations, DNA copy number was unchanged in the infant-irradiation group, suggesting duplication of the mutated allele by chromosome mis-segregation or mitotic recombination. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that while deletions on chromosome 11 affecting the Ikaros locus are a prominent feature of young adult irradiation-induced T-cell lymphoma, tumors arising after infant irradiation suffer a second hit in the Pten gene by chromosome mis-segregation or recombination. This is the first report showing age-at-exposure associated radiation-induced genomic alterations in two key tumor suppressor genes linked to T-cell lymphomagenesis. These data are important for considering the risks associated with childhood exposure to radiation. 38 T-cell lymphomas arising after weekly irradiation of female B6C3F1 mice with 1.2 Gy X-rays for 4 consecutive weeks starting at different ages (Infant: 1 week old (15 tumors), Adolescent: 4 weeks old (13 tumors), Young adult: 8 weeks old (10 tumors)) were analyzed.