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Abstract

When treating cancer using radiation therapy, it is critical to increase patient survival rates and to reduce side effects. In this respect, proton beam radiation treatment performs better than other radiation treatments because of its high target specificity. However, complications still remain after proton beam radiation treatment. Among them, the risk to progeny after irradiation of their parents is a major concern. In this study, we analyzed the transgenerational effects of proton beam irradiation using the model organism Caenorhabditis. elegans. We found that germline apoptosis increased after proton beam irradiation and its effects were sustained transgenerationally. Moreover, we identified that a germline-specific histone methyltransferase component, SET-2, has a critical role in transmitting the transgenerational effect on germline apoptosis to the next generation after proton beam irradiation.​ 

Author information

Min H1, Sung M1, Son M1, Kawasaki I1, Shim YH2.

1Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.2Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yshim@konkuk.ac.kr.