Publicaties
Micronuclei as biomarkers of DNA damage, aneuploidy, inducers of chromosomal hypermutation and as sources of pro-inflammatory DNA in humans Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Micronuclei (MNi) are among the most widely studied biomarkers of DNA damage and chromosomal instability in humans. They originate from chromosome fragments or intact chromosomes that are not included in daughter nuclei during mitosis. The main reasons for their formation are a lack of functional centromere in the chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes or defects in one or more of the proteins of the mitotic system that, consequently, ...
Micronuclei, inflammation and auto-immune disease Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Auto-immune diseases (AUD) are characterized by an immune response to antigenic components of the host itself. The etiology of AUD is not well understood. The available evidence points to an interaction between genetic, epigenetic, environmental, infectious and life-style factors. AUD are more prevalent in women than in men; sex hormones play a crucial role in this sex bias. Micronuclei (MN) emerged as a new player in the induction of AUD, ...
Micronuclei and disease - Report of HUMN project workshop at Rennes 2019 EEMGS conference Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The "Micronuclei and Disease" workshop was organized by the HUMN Project consortium and hosted by the European Environmental Mutagen and Genomics Society at their annual meeting in Rennes, France, on 23 May 2019. The program of the workshop focused on addressing the emerging evidence linking micronucleus (MN) frequency to human disease. The first objective was to review what has been published and evaluate the level and quality of evidence ...
Validity of the Lymphocyte Cytokinesis-Block Micronucleus Assay (L-CBMN) as biomarker for human exposure to chemicals with different modes of action Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Recently fourteen systematic reviews applying the same selection and evaluation criteria analyzed the induction of micronuclei in lymphocytes as biomarker for DNA damage induced by human exposure to a given chemical or chemical mixture. The results obtained in the individual reviews were summarized to evaluate the validity of the Cytokinesis-Block-Micronucleus assay in lymphocytes (L-CBMN) and propose recommendations for its use in ...
The lymphocyte cytokinesis block micronucleus test in human populations occupationally exposed to vinyl chloride Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Vinyl chloride (VC) is widely used in industry in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used to manufacture a large variety of materials. VC was classified as a known (Group 1) human carcinogen by IARC on the basis of increased risk for liver angiosarcoma and hepatocellular cancer, and the carcinogenicity of VC was shown to be mediated by a genotoxic mechanism. Following inhalation, the compound is rapidly absorbed and ...
Molecular mechanisms by which in vivo exposure to exogenous chemical genotoxic agents can lead to micronucleus formation in lymphocytes in vivo and ex vivo in humans Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The purpose of this review is to summarise current knowledge on the molecular mechanisms by which in vivo exposure to exogenous chemical genotoxins in humans induces micronuclei (MNi) and other nuclear anomalies in lymphocytes in vivo and ex vivo after nuclear division in vitro. MNi originate from acentric chromosome fragments and/or whole chromosomes that are unable to engage with the mitotic spindle and/or fail to segregate properly to the ...
The ex vivo L-CBMN assay detects significant human exposure to butadiene Vrije Universiteit Brussel
1,3-Butadiene (BD), an important industrial chemical used in the production of synthetic rubber and resins and a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, was classified as a human carcinogen by IARC. BD requires metabolic activation to different epoxides that are known to bind to DNA, inducing also DNA-DNA and DNA-protein crosslinks. The DNA damage leading to mutations has been identified as the mode of action of BD. Experimental studies in ...