Low dose radiation 'harms heart'

BBC News

Low doses of radiation can cause cardiovascular disease, according to work carried out by mathematicians at Imperial College.

Nuclear workers have been shown to have higher rates of heart disease in some studies

They have constructed a model which suggests that the risk would increase as the dose increases.

Studies have shown that nuclear workers exposed to long-term doses of radiation have higher levels of heart disease.

But experts said it was too early to draw such conclusions without the biological research to back it up.

Controversial theory

The team at Imperial College, writing in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, say they explored a novel mechanism that suggests radiation kills monocytes, which travel across the arterial wall to mop up a protein called MCP-1.

High levels of MCP-1 are thought to cause the inflammation which leads to cardiovascular disease.

Their model was consistent with the rates of heart disease seen in nuclear workers and also predicted the changes in MCP-1 caused by high levels of cholesterol in the diet.Read more...