Spaceflight radiation carcinogenesis Spaceflight radiation carcinogenesis Astronauts are exposed to approximately 50-2,000 millisieverts (mSv) while on six-month-duration missions to the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon and beyond. The risk of cancer caused by ionizing radiation is well documented at radiation doses beginning at 50 mSv and above. Related radiological effect studies have shown that survivors of the atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear reactor workers and patients who have undergone therapeutic radiation treatments have received low-linear energy transfer (LET) radiation (x-rays and gamma rays) doses in the same 50-2000 mSv range. While in space, astronauts are exposed to radiation which
Biological effects of radiation on the epigenome DNA polymerases is one of the ways radiation induced DNA damage can be repaired. However, DNA polymerases do not insert methylated bases which leads to a decrease in methylation of the newly synthesized strand. Reactive oxygen species also inhibit DNMT activity which would normally add the missing methyl groups. This increases the chance that the demethylated state of DNA will eventually become permanent. Chronic exposure to these types of radiation can have an effect on children from as early as when they are fetuses. There have been multiple cases reported of hindrance in the development of the brain, behavioral changes