Synergistic effect of radon in blood cells of smokers - An in vitro study

Epidemiological studies indicate that the risk of lung cancer among smokers increases with exposure to residential radon. The present study aimed to investigate the synergetic effect between smoking and radon. Blood samples from smokers and non-smokers were exposed to different concentrations of radon ranging from 0 to 189 MBq/m3 corresponding to doses ranging from 0.2 to 15.2 mGy. Chromosome aberrations in first division metaphase preparations were scored. The frequency of dicentrics in radon-exposed smoker cells was found to be higher than non-smokers by factor of 3.8. The present study is the first of its kind to investigate the interaction of radon and smoking sans confounding factors, as smoker cells were exposed in vitro to radon.